They Call It Nutbush
by VengefulElfe
Summary: Picks up in season 4.  The ND and Warblers are competing at Nationals (Regionals is nonexistent)  Doesn't exactly follow along with the original plot line.  MORE DESCRIPTION IN FIRST CHAPTER!
1. Chapter 1

_Starts when Blaine cheats, a few weeks before Nationals, which the Warblers are still in the running for and Kurt hasn't found out about Blaine cheating. Rachel and Finn have broken up and Finn is leading the Glee Club to Nationals. Mr. Shue is already married to Emma with their first child on the way. Brody has moved out and Rachel broke up with him after Santana proved that she was right. Santana, Kurt and Rachel are living together in New York, still all friends and happy. The club managed to get through sectionals after Blaine confronts the Warblers about cheating and regionals isn't a thing so their next stop is Nationals in LA._

 _It's two weeks before Nationals and it's mid-November so it's cold outside in both NY and Lima but there hasn't been snow in Lima yet, only in New York so they're all excited waiting for the first snow of the season._

 _Sugar, Joe, Rory and Brit are gone already, where? Don't know, don't care. (They're part of the nationals team)_

"So how's McKinnley?" Kurt asks even though he honestly doesn't care. He's just trying to find some reason to call his boyfriend who's still stuck in Lima. Blaine knows that Kurt doesn't really care about the school or him, they're drifting apart just like everyone said they would when Kurt packed up and headed to New York. "It's fine, a little slow and boring without you here." Blaine states as he stares at the wall across from him. He's currently lounging in the choir room, the last chair up against the right wall on the third tier up. His chair's back is against the wall and his right leg is bent, knee resting against the wall with his foot on the ground and his left leg stretched out across two other chairs. School ended several hours ago and Glee practice was just dismissed. The club is working hard for Nationals and Finn is making them put in lots of time, not that Blaine minds, but it's a little overkill. He has Kurt on speaker, half listening to him babble about his Vogue internship he's working on and half focusing on his Facebook feed he's scrolling through. His finger hovers over the 'poke' button on Eli's profile. He hits the poke button and almost instantaneously Eli messages him. 'What's up Sexy?' Blaine smiles at his phone from the message from Eli. Eli is making him feel happy, and loved the way that Kurt's texts used to make him feel, back when Kurt was texting him. Blaine hesitates when the next message that comes from Eli invites him over. He knows that it's wrong and if Kurt ever found out, 'yes'

"Hey you still there?" Kurt asks, scaring Blaine from his online conversation. "Yeah yeah totally. Sorry Sam just texted me, some big class president thing and-" Kurt cuts him off, really honestly not caring and for once Blaine is glad because his excuse is complete shit but he needs to have Kurt hang up first. "I have work anyways." Kurt says and Blaine mumbles a rushed 'I love you' before Kurt hangs up and Blaine grabs his bag and heads off to his local hookup.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Blaine feels awful. Not physically, his night was great but emotionally he feels like he betrayed the man that he loves. Kurt wouldn't do this to him and he doesn't even have to worry about it. But yet, here he is, not even two months after Kurt has moved out of state, cheating on him with someone as insignificant as a Facebook friend. He's at his locker, grabbing his textbooks for his first and second hour classes when it slams shut, revealing Sam, leaning against his neighbor's locker, smiling. "So I was thinking-"

"That must've hurt," Blaine sarcastically remarks as he reopens his locker. Sam fake chuckles as he continues with his 'genius' idea. "Ok so with Finn in charge here, that means that we can get away with more because he's just as motivated to win again as we are-"

"And Mr. Shue isn't? Finn has special rules from the school and Mr. Shue because he doesn't even have a year of schooling after high school, which he barely graduated so."

"No but for sectionals we just squeezed by because your 'brothers' cheated, so for Nationals we can totally go for something like way more impressive, like what the Warblers did but without the cheating and drugs." Sam follows Blaine to his first hour class, explaining his idea while Blaine only half listens, adding in a 'hmm' and 'uh huh' whenever Sam stops talking. "Dude what's up with you? You're like totally not listening to anything I say." Blaine once again responds with 'uh huh' until he realizes that Sam asked him a question. "Oh yeah I'm totally listening, just huge math test today and you know." He starts making up excuses like having a math test, which would've worked if Sam wasn't in his math class. "Did something happen?" Sam asks as he finally pulls Blaine to stop by his bag strap. Blaine pulls his bag away from Sam before ducking down a different hallway and disappearing to his first hour.


	3. Chapter 3

Finn paces as he waits outside of the Special Ed testing room for Ryder. He hears the door jiggle as it's pulled open and he stops pacing and sees Ryder emerge, tears in his eyes. "Well? It's not a brain tumor is it?" Finn questions, no longer being able to wait. "I have dyslexia." Ryder slams himself into the lockers, leaning against them as he rants, first just yelling and then yelling directed at Finn. Finn knows it's nothing personal, after all Coach Beiste and many of his friends have been in the same position he's in now. He had his fair share of meltdowns and his friends had their fair share of the yellings. When Ryder finally just slumps against the lockers and kicks at the ground he thanks Finn, realizing that because of him, his life should get easier. "I owe you one, thanks Finn."

"Actually I think you owe Jake one. He's the one who even brought this to my attention." Finn states as he head back to the choir room with Ryder still following. Ryder knows he should head back to his first hour but he's technically excused for his first and second hours for the testing. He sits down at the drum set as Finn starts laying piles of papers on the piano. "So Nationals, what are we doing coach?" Ryder asks as he gently hits the high hat with his finger. "Don't know yet. So any plans to help with the dyslexia or?"

"Yeah, I have to meet with a specialist from now on. How great. I can't spend my friday nights going out after games because that's the only time this guy can squeeze me into his 'busy' schedule." Ryder is more embarrassed and hurt than angry but he's still at the stage where he's making fun of everything, even if it's going to help him in the long run. Finn just chuckles as Ryder mocks the specialist and basically everything else. "Foreigner or Kiss?" He asks, separating papers into different piles. "Foreigner, definitely Foreigner." Ryder answers as he gets up to see what exactly Finn is doing. He picks up the sheet music for 'Cold as Ice.' "Dude the amount of hits that Foreigner had. We could fill a stadium tour with just their hits."

"Which could be fun but I've got a better idea. 80's mash-up, everyone chooses one song and then we figure how to mash them up and in total I'm thinking we pick the top six songs and make one hell of a mash-up."

"You realize that you're asking me to choose between 'Cold as Ice' or 'Juke Box Hero.' That's like terrorism. It can't be done."

"What 'Hot Blooded' isn't even in your running?" Finn jokes as he finally sorts out just 80's hits into one pile and then puts the rest away. "So now, the group chooses their top six."

Suddenly Ryder pauses, "Do you hear that?" The bell beginning second hour rings as Ryder says that but Finn hears what he's talking about. He hears the very faint sound of singing. "It's coming from the auditorium. Which should I point out is not reserved for anything so," Finn basically cuts Ryder off on the way to the theater to see who is singing. Finn pulls open the back entrance through the costume vault and ducks behind an amp, Ryder following the suit, seeing Blaine on stage alone, belting out Nirvana's 'Come as You Are.' Ryder scoots closer, almost knocking over the amp he's trying to hide behind. "If you don't get him to sing this for nationals then you're failing us all." Ryder whispers, totally amazed by the raspiness and roughness of Blaine that he's never heard. He has always assumed Blaine to be a show choir boy and that's it. "And how do you want me to handle this? 'Oh hey, we were eavesdropping and the song you were singing is a perfect 90's song for our 80's theme?' He's not going to go for it." Finn whisper yells at Ryder. "He doesn't strike me as a ninety grunge fan," Ryder states, totally ignoring Finn and everything he just said. "Where'd he learn to perform like that and when are you going to teach us that?" Finn ignores the slight insult of his teaching ability and chooses only to answer the first part of the question. "The Academy. He trained with the Warblers, led them to Nationals two years in a row before transferring here last year for Kurt." Finn notices that the music has stopped and so has Blaine's singing so he tries to herd Ryder out before they get caught. Luckily for Finn and Ryder, Blaine's phone rings before he notices them not so sneakily sneaking around the back. Blaine hops down off the stage to where his bag is in the first row of seats, flung in one of the seats. He answers the call and sits down on the edge of the stage. "Oh hey Kurt. Yeah I know, god I miss you too. Just think in two more weeks, I'll be flying out to New York and then we have one long plane ride to LA." Blaine laughs at something Kurt must've said and then smiles as he responds. "Yeah, Central Park sounds great, just not sure how well you'll be able to walk the next few days after I get there." Blaine drifts off and laughs as Finn stands in the back totally mortified. Just the thought of it being Kurt, his little brother, on the other end of that line, and relationship creeps him out. Ryder drags Finn out, trying not to laugh. Finn is silent as he walks back into the choir room. Although he's silent, Ryder has no problem filling the silence. "Wow, it's one of those things like I knew he was gay but he's always so put together, you know? Like it's hard to imagine him ever in a sexual relationship, and not just because he's gay but it's like Blaine. It's just so not him ya know? Like-"

"Ryder shut up." Finn cuts off the younger football star and goes back to working on sorting out Mr. Shue's many disorganized piles of papers as he tries to get the image of Blaine and Kurt together out of his mind. "So this Kurt kid, that's your brother right? Or at least like a half brother or step-brother or something?" Ryder asks as he attempts to play the piano,

"Ryder I said shut up." Ryder laughs out loud as Finn shoves him off the piano bench. He's having way too much fun making fun of Finn's disgust.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine struggles talking with Kurt, not because he doesn't want to, because he does. He wants nothing more than to tell him the truth, even though he knows how much it will hurt the both of them. He feels so bad about cheating and even though their plan is to meet the weekend before Nationals in New York and then fly out to LA together, he's not sure he can do that. He knows that eventually this secret will come out and if he doesn't tell Kurt someone else will and it will be even worse. "Shit these phones do not stop ringing. Can I put you on hold?" Kurt asks and of course Blaine says yes. He can tell how flustered Kurt is from this internship and then he now is in NYADA and he has his new band Pamela Lansbury.

"Hello thank you for calling Mrs-"

"Still me Kurt." Blaine cuts off Kurt who, in turn sighs, tries to figure out how to operate the phones. "I'll go. Text me later when not so busy." Blaine says and then lets Kurt go, trying not to just blurt out that he cheated. He hangs up, a successful phone call without telling Kurt and or breaking down crying. By now it's almost third hour and he knows that he needs to actually attend his classes to keep his valedictorian title. Artie and Tina fought over it, both resigning so the other could have it until Principal Sue finally just gave him the title, along with the title 'Gay Boy Blaine.' He integrates with the crowds as the bell ending second hour rings. Blaine walks up behind Sam, falling into step with his best friend, who is actually straight. "Where have you been?" Sam asks, knowing that Blaine had walked up behind him.

"Taking some personal me time. It seems the only free time Kurt has is during school so," Sam shrugs off everything Blaine is saying and Blaine knows it. Sam is a great guy, and before they were besties, Blaine had the biggest crush on him, now they can just look back and laugh about it but Sam doesn't ever really listen when Blaine talks about Kurt. That's fine with Blaine because he just needs to rant sometimes and Sam is never going to tell anyone because he won't remember what Blaine said. Blaine has lunch third hour with Sam and now he's spending his lunch hours indoors in the choir room. He's usually playing on the piano so it's surprising when the others are in the choir room too. "What's up?" Blaine asks walking up behind Marley who's standing in front of the trophy cabinet.

"Didn't you guys win last year?" She asks, blocking his view to their Nationals trophy from last year. "Yeah, if you're wondering if we stole the trophy, no we didn't." He chuckles as he sets his bag at the piano bench. "Uh no dude that's not why she's asking. There's no trophy in the case. Just your computer." Sam says, picking up a laptop that looks exactly like Blaine's, with the Warbler's logo sticker on the back too. "That's not mine."

"Well we don't keep Warbler laptops around the choir room." Sam says, and then the laptop lights up. He almost drops it, Marley chuckling as he sets it on the piano and presses the play button. It's a blurred video of a Warbler, most likely Sebastian holding their trophy. "Dude, your boyfriend stole our trophy." Blaine gets up from the piano at Sam's comment. "I doubt Kurt got that on a plane but-" He then sees the Warbler jacket on the screen. "Ah, that 'boyfriend'." Blaine makes the fake air quotations as he calls Sebastian his boyfriend. "We never even had sex. We are not dating but I will get the trophy, no one tells Mr. Shue or Finn." Blaine says as he slings his bag over his shoulder and heads out.


	5. Chapter 5

When Blaine arrives at Dalton he feels happy. It's like going home for a holiday, only it's not a holiday and he doesn't have to deal with parents. His Beemer finally fits in for once, instead of being that one rich car in the public school parking lot. He walks into his old home, some of the newer students giving him a dirty look but the ones who know who he is, point and whisper to their friends, no doubt about the amount of records he holds here. Everything in the school still looks the exact same. As he trots down the spiral staircase he shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Sebastian, should've known it was you." Sebastian chuckles and waits for him at the bottom of the stairs. "No, I turned over a new leaf. No more bullying, blackmail or salt this year." He says smiling as they walk down the old oak trimmed hallway together. "Well that must be boring for you," Blaine replies back, remembering his weeks out with an eye patch. His tone is light but slightly insulting, not enjoying his several weeks out on injured reserve. "Yeah, actually. Being nice sucks," Sebastian responds, nodding like he's thinking about it. Sebastian stops and pushes open the senior Warbler practice room. "He's in here."

Blaine pauses before entering the room he spent so much time in. "Who?"

"The ex-Warbler who just happened to start the show choir blog's biggest drug scandal and have a bad habit of being a klepto." Sebastian informs him as Blaine walks in and sees a kid in a Warbler's blazer with tan hair holding a white cat and their trophy. "Who the hell is this?" Blaine asks, raising an eyebrow when he looks back at Sebastian.

"To save my time and so I never have to see you wear that hideous sweater ever again, my name is Hunter Clarington. I'm the new head of the Warblers,-"

"Ex-head of the Warblers." Sebastian cuts in from the corner.

"And I'm at Dalton on a full-ride scholarship-"

"For drug dealing? What's the going rate these days?" Blaine too, cuts him off to make fun of him. Blaine honestly doesn't care who the hell this kid is and frankly he just wants his trophy back. Blaine isn't very nice to the guy because according to Sebastian, he isn't going to be around very long and Blaine isn't impressed with the kid who thinks he can march into their choir room and take what he wants. "Cough up the trophy El Chapo." Blaine pretend yawns, bored from dealing with this kid. Hunter finally gives in, tossing him the trophy and storming out, not before Sebastian confiscates his jacket and key to the senior practice room. "Well since you're here," Sebastian hints, elbowing Blaine. He sets the trophy on the coffee table, that's surprisingly, made out of wood just like everything else in the school. "I think I have time for a coffee, just for old times sake, and Dalton still has the best Vanilla Café latte." Blaine offers up. Hanging out with Sebastian now is all innocent. It's nothing more than just best friends or brothers. Yeah sure, there was a time where Sebastian liked him and he liked Sebastian but now that's over. Sebastian knows he's happy with Kurt and Sebastian might finally have a secure relationship. Blaine and Sebastian end up at the same table they first sat at when they met and talked over coffee. "So you've backed off, not that I don't appreciate that but can I ask why?" Blaine says, taking a sip of his old favorite latte. "Well after I realized just how annoying you really are, I moved on and met someone." Sebastian jokingly insults him first but then tells him the truth, that he really has met someone. "And are you going to tell me who that someone is?"

"Well you actually know them. They're actually a really nice person once you get past the horse teeth comments, and the fact she almost got me arrested last year." He says, drawing shapes with the stir stick on the circular table. Blaine almost chokes on his latte as Sebastian's 'almost arrested' comment gives it away. "You're dating Santana?!" He exclaims, only to be hushed by Sebastian. "Shut up Anderson. It's still on the down low right now. After all it's weird enough with me being gay and her being lesbo so we're just staying under the radar." Sebastian mumbles, suddenly very interested in the table.

"Yeah how does that work? She dated a girl and you like guys."

"Well you know how when you finally find someone that really means something to you it's different. Well you probably don't because I'm not convinced you and turkish delight have made it that far but this isn't just like a one night thing. It's different, it feels better than just sex or drunk love. I think I'm actually falling in love with her." Sebastian explains, managing to insult both Blaine and Kurt in the process but Blaine gets it. It's like how he feels with Kurt versus what it felt like with Eli C. "Yeah, believe it or not, I know the feeling and Kurt and I have made it that far." Blaine corrects him, feeling the need to defend himself.

"Relax Warbler, oh speaking of which, I hear that they even call you that over in your public school. Blaine Warbler, it's got a nice ring. Now that your 'soulmate' has managed to make it to New York, to do what I don't know, I don't care, but I've got an offer for ya." Sebastian starts and Blaine sighs, he already knows where Sebastian is going with this. "I'm not transferring back. Look I love Dalton, and deep down I'll always be a Warbler but I have a life in McKinnley and I don't want to just leave it." Blaine says, cutting him off before he can even make his offer.

"Blaine you're one of us, you belong here. The Warblers know it, your friends know your place so maybe it's time that you learn it too. Either way, while you think about the full-ride offer," Sebastian mentions, and then grabs Blaine's old blazer. He knows it's his because of the slight rip in the inside seam of the right pocket that he purposefully put there so he could charge his phone in the jacket. "I think this belongs to you." Sebastian hands it to him as they walk back to the practice room. Blaine slides it on, the fit still being perfect and it brings back the good memories from his time here. "You know what goes well with the Dalton blazer?" Sebastian asks as the rest of the Warblers file in. "An impromptu song." Blaine tries to argue, a pitiful attempt because he actually wants to sing with them one more time, just for old times sake he convinces himself. They end up covering Kelly Clarkson's 'Dark Side,' Blaine taking the lead just like he used to. He's missed singing a capella. "You know you belong here Blaine Warbler." Sebastian says as Blaine peels off his blazer and tries to hand it back to him. "Keep it, it's yours." Sebastian pushes his hand back, refusing to take the blazer.

"I uh, I need time to think about my options, not that taking over wouldn't be fun but-" Blaine tries to make a joke but deep down both he and Sebastian already know what his decision is. Blaine walks out wearing his new, old, blazer and carrying their trophy.


	6. Chapter 6

Blaine walks into McKinnley just as the parking lot is clearing out and Glee practice is beginning. "New blazer?" Finn asks as he walks in late, carrying the trophy and putting it back in the case. "Long story, friendly gift." Blaine says, refusing to explain his visit with the Warblers as he sits down next to Sam and Tina. He drapes his bag over the back of his chair as Sam leans over to insult him and the Warblers. "They stole our trophy and you decide today is the day to represent your alma mater?" Sam gives him a dirty look and so does Tina. Blaine just tunes them out as Finn explains his idea for Nationals. It's an 80's mash-up rock n' roll hits. They have a nine minute time slot so Finn suggests they start with an opener and the mash-up. His idea for the opener has the attention of the entire club, some supporting the idea, others, like Blaine and Artie, totally opposed to it. "It's way too risky and Mr. Shue would never go for it." Artie says as soon as Finn finishes explaining what his plan is. It's a dance, two people in the spotlight and the others in black in the background singing. He hasn't decided on a song yet but he was thinking something dark themed considering the dance is quite inappropriate. "Mr. Shue is going to meet us in a week before LA, he won't have time to change and if it's executed right, this could win us Nationals." Finn explains as Artie argues. Blaine stopped listening about five minutes ago when Finn first introduced the idea. "Look I know it's risky but I'm picturing Blaine and Marley." Marley snaps her head up with a surprised, 'Me?' and Blaine looks up from his texting conversation with Kurt. "No way." Blaine says, in between texting Kurt and looking up at Finn. Marley agrees with him, too shy to go with the revealing costume and inappropriate dance. "You're doing it. Come on, you want to win just as much as I do and you know that an opener like this could work." Blaine tells Kurt he'll fill him in later and locks his phone and drops it into his pocket of his blazer. "Listen here Finn. I'm not having sex on stage. With a girl. As Santana would say, 'No mi gusta.' I'm not doing it."

"Why because it's not what the Warblers would do?" Finn snaps back, sick and tired of Blaine always challenging him. He did it all of last year too and he's flat out sick of it. Blaine stands up, squaring up to Finn. "Because I'm not for sale." Blaine yells back, really considering a transfer in schooling. "Just take one for the team for once Blaine!" Finn shouts at him and Ryder and Jake are placing bets on who is going to throw the first punch. Blaine doesn't let his fight club experience show though. He straightens out his blazer, buttoning the first of three gold buttons before grabbing his bag, slinging it over his shoulder and heading out. "Good luck at Nationals. I'm sure we'll see each other somewhere along the way." Blaine walks out with that comment, clearly stating that he's planning on transferring back to Dalton. "He's like walking out isn't he?" Unique asks, playing with her wig. "He was cute too." She states and Marley laughs. "No. He's not leaving." Finn says reassuringly. He knows Blaine isn't leaving, even if he has to pull a Mr. Shue and blackmail him.


	7. Chapter 7

Blaine doesn't go back to Dalton to accept Sebastian's offer, at least not yet. He heads straight home and calls Rachel. "Kurt's still at his internship if that's why you're calling." She states and he can tell he's on speaker because he can hear her rushing around and working on something and Santana in the background. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about something, in private." He adds the last part, hoping to have her take him off of speaker. He doesn't want Santana to hear what he wants to talk to her about. "Oh, McKinnley gossip, I'm in." Santana responds, "He said private, that means without you Santana." Rachel says grabbing for her phone that's resting on the kitchen table. "No leave it Berry I want to hear this."

Blaine sighs, knowing that Kurt is going to get off of work soon and he can't have Kurt overhear this. "Fine Santana can stay as long as you keep your mouth shut."

"You got it gay ass. Go." She insults him, sitting at the table repainting her nails with a black polish. "I've messed up." Blaine states plain and simple, refusing to use the word 'cheated.' Santana and Rachel both assume different meanings. "Oh my god you finally got caught for stealing those ridiculous man panties you wear." Santana remarks and then snorts at her own joke. "No?" Blaine questions, genuinely confused at her comment. Rachel, however understands what he means. "Blaine you didn't ch-"

"Don't say it. It just makes it feel so real. God what the hell do I do?"

Santana smiles as Rachel babies Blaine but she finds this really funny. "Weren't you the one who got all mad at Kurt for texting some guy last year and then you what? Banged someone behind his back?" Santana says flat out and Rachel just gives her a look. "Ok just don't tell him. It will ruin everything and with Nationals in just two weeks you can not deal with some big break up now." Rachel says, although she also needs Kurt to be stable for her performances for Funny Girl. Kurt is helping her run lines and if he's depressed he won't be able to help her. "Rachel I can't just lie to him." Blaine argues back and before Rachel can respond Santana does. "Alright twink I'll let you in on a little secret. You're going to keep your mouth shut. You move on, keep your dick in your pants and then we never have to deal with anything like this ever again because frankly Auntie Tana is sick of break up songs and we both know Lady Hummel has a slue of them." Rachel would've phrased it in a much kinder way but she agrees with Santana for once. "She's right Blaine. You know that it was a mistake so just move on and forget about it. He'll never know and it'll never happen again." Blaine nods, trying not to cry. "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am. I'm always right." Santana says beforing getting up and announcing her departure for work. He hangs up on Rachel after saying goodbye. He tosses his phone on his bed and stares at his reflection in the mirror. He looks just like a Warbler. He looks stunning but the jacket is suffocating him. He feels like he needs to make a decision because until he does he's not going to be happy. He jumps, startled by his phone ringing. He jumps onto his bed and grabs the phone, almost hoping it's Kurt. He's not going to tell him but still he misses his boyfriend so much. He's slightly disappointed when it's only Marley. "Hey." He says as he answers the phone call, wondering how she managed to get his cell number but he doesn't embarrass her and ask.

"So I know that you're opposed to Finn's idea for the opener but you're the best one at Glee club so if you do it then there's a chance that we could win Nationals and I'm not excited for it either but please. You're the best performer Glee club has." She begs him to work with her on the opener that Finn has suggested. They work on music during lunch, which is fourth hour for most of the students in the club but for Sam, Tina, Blaine and Artie it's their senior privilege. The club then spends their afternoons in the auditorium learning choreography. He responds, cockily of course. "I know." He responds with as he puts her on speaker and chucks his phone on the bed as he strips out of his blazer and into athletic clothes. It's no secret to his friends that he used to be very involved in Dalton. Not just in the Warblers but he holds the record for fight club wins and for being the captain of the boxing team. He didn't join any athletic clubs when he transferred to McKinnley because he wanted to just have some downtime instead of always being so busy. He still loves to run. It helps him clear his head. He runs and then writes and then runs some more. He's still in really good shape and has a number of girls at McKinnley drooling over him and most everyone knows he's gay and if they can't figure it out by his outfits then there's just no hope for them.

"Look Mr. Shue wouldn't allow it which means it's most likely wrong so.." Blaine drifts off as he peels off the McKinnley gym shirt he's wearing. "Look the judges aren't going to appreciate it. They're all a bunch of old classical people so a group of high schoolers dancing like Finn wants us to, is, well it's just going to get us into trouble." He's debating with just going for a run shirtless, he's definitely not ashamed of his body but it is November so it's starting to get to the point where if he doesn't wear enough clothes he'll get sick. "If you're so interested, get Jake or Ryder to do it with you." He says before hanging up on her and grabbing headphones and heading out for a run.


	8. Chapter 8

Marley sighs when Blaine hangs up on her. The practice is still going because they're behind. They have two weeks until Nationals because they just heard back that they're allowed to perform because of Dalton's drug scandal. Most show choirs, like Dalton have been practicing for months and they have weeks. "Well he's in an extra pleasant mood about this." She mutters as she insults Blaine's attitude. Finn walks around, watching the dance practice for the medley. "Well when he comes around, I have asked for a few favors from the alumni and I already have a choreography of the dance, courtesy of Mike and Santana." Finn props his laptop up on a stool and Marley is starting to agree with Blaine. The dance looks really, really good but also incredibly hard to learn and she's not the best the dancer. "If Blaine helps you learn it, you'll have no problems." Finn says, clapping her on the back in a reassuring manner. Finn has the others line up and start working on the background. The dance is somewhat fast paced but still a slow dance. Finn is so driven to win Nationals because he wants to prove himself. He almost failed out of high school, accidently shot himself in military training, then lost his girlfriend when she cheated on him and now he has just this club and that's it. After the sectionals fisco, he's really pushing everyone. They're spending hours after school in the auditorium and Finn is running a practice harder than the football practices. Ryder sighs as he bumps into Jake again. Jake just jokingly pushes him away but Finn stops the whole group, standing up on the seats of the third row. "Guys! Come ON. We have less that three weeks to get this down and you can't even focus." Ryder knows that he's directly yelling at him. "We don't even have a lead! This is so stupid." Ryder walks forward, out of the line up just to yell at Finn who's constantly pushing him. Now he's finally just snapped. "We have a lead. Blaine is doing this if it's the last thing he does." Ryder just sighs, "Great, force him into it. Good thinking. I'm out." Ryder storms out, not evening bothering to grab his backpack from the seats. He walks off the stage and exits through a back entrance. Finn carefully climbs over the two rows in front of him and jumps off the chairs and runs up onto the stage. "Keep working, I'll go talk to him." He says, then announces that Artie's in charge and then chases after Ryder. He finds Ryder outside on the turf, even though it's only twenty degrees out. Ryder hasn't seen him yet, his back is to the stands where Finn is waiting and he's pacing in the endzone. He's humming a Beatles song and debating with screaming. "You really quitting?" Finn yells, scaring Ryder.

"How'd you know where I was?" He shouts back as Finn approaches him, jogging down the field. Finn chuckles as he kicks at the ground. "Because trust me I had my fair share of meltdowns on this very turf. And believe me, I was not the only one. I know Kurt has had his fair share of songs here, including his dance to 'Single Ladies' with the Cheerios." Ryder chuckles, imagining a guy dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies song with a bunch of cheerleaders. "You know that we kind of need you to perform at Nationals right?" Finn hints at, they barely make the limit for amount of performers. Ryder chuckles as Finn playfully shoves him. "Don't worry you're stuck with me for just a little longer."

"Good because you belong in Glee club, it'll help you, trust me it really straightened me out. This is your first time with a dance number, don't beat yourself up because it's not perfect yet. It'll get there, even if it takes a little longer." Finn wraps his arm around Ryder's neck and gives him a knuckle noogie. Ryder has really bonded with Finn, they're a lot alike, which is why Finn has spent so much time with him and for Ryder it's like a brother he never had. Ryder is an only child and having Finn around makes everything seem a little less lonely. "Kurt's lucky." Ryder mutters as he follows Finn back inside. Ryder mutters it quietly so Finn won't hear and judging by Finn's zero reaction, he didn't. Finn smiles inwardly, he did hear Ryder but he knows not to say anything. "Well come on coach we've got practice." Ryder jokes, as he kicks the back of Finn's shoe. Finn grabs Ryder, ruffling his hair and insulting him jokingly. Finn doesn't finish his insult because he's laughing too hard as Ryder runs him into the chain link fence. Finn stops as he pulls open the auditorium door. Ryder runs into him, not knowing why he stopped randomly. Finn sees the group nailing the background routine but what surprises him the most is Blaine and Marley struggling through the choreography. Marley and Blaine attempt the running leap and spin move but just end up cracking up as he accidently drops her. She laughs it off as he helps her up off the floor. "Wow guys, it's amazing." Finn claps as he approaches the stage. Blaine pants, trying to catch his breath from working so hard and not to mention the auditorium is getting warmer and warmer. "Do we know what song we're doing or are we just going to have sex and call it good?" Blaine makes a smart ass comment between gasps for air. "Funny. Yes there is a song and it's not having sex on stage, it's just a riskier idea." Finn defends himself but he can tell Blaine isn't listening to a word he's saying. Blaine is texting, probably Kurt but Finn honestly doesn't care. "You still with us?" Finn asks, waiting for Blaine to realize that everyone's waiting on him. He apologizes as he pockets his phone. "Sorry, Kurt."

"The song that is going to be performed with the dance is a Britney Spears song, 'Oops I did it Again.' Know it?"

Blaine rolls his eyes as Finn talks down to him. "I don't see you volunteering to get up here and give it a try." Blaine motions for Finn to take the stage but Finn just shakes his head. "Scared Warbler?"

"You?" Blaine responds, not letting Finn get the last word in. "Whatever, let's run the full group for the mash-up and then we'll call it a night." Blaine scoffs as he takes his place in the full group choreo, smirking, knowing that he won the argument. Finn has them run the dance a few times before dismissing everyone.


	9. Chapter 9

Marley heads to the cafeteria, where her mom is still working to get lunch done for tomorrow. "How was practice?" Her mom asks, just finishing the stew for the main course. "It was fun, can I help?" Marley knows how hard her mom works and she tries to help as much as possible. She helps her mom with the green beans while telling her mom about the dance for Glee. Her mom sounds nowhere near as impressed as she is. "I mean I've been considering Ryder and Jake, like maybe I'm looking at everything wrong. What about Blaine? I mean yeah, he's a little older but he's an amazing dancer, singer, and he's totally cute." She's crushing on Blaine, just the way he showed up after school in a white muscle tank and mustard yellow pants, she just totally fell in love. Her mom just mumbles, clearly not impressed with her daughter's choices. "He's uh, gay isn't he?" Her mom's tone is slightly judgmental but Marley just laughs it off. "Yeah well so. He's so incredibly talented and such a good guy. Not to mention how incredibly strong he is, uh his arms are strong toned ah- it's amazing. Just think, with him on this dance I can redeem myself from sectionals and maybe even win nationals," As Marley's talking her mom is just working, not anywhere near as excited. "And you're totally against this aren't you?" Marley dries her hands on a towel and walks over to her mom who smiles kindly but her eyes are showing her disappointment. Marley sighs and turns, talking with her hands as she tries to convince her mom to let her do the show. She swings her arm, accidently catching the pot of stew and knocking it off the stove to the floor. She freezes, hands over her mouth and on the verge of tears. "Mom I'm so so-"

"It's fine, I'll fix this, why don't you go start on homework?" Her mom suggests, a kind way to say please leave. Marley nods, slinging her backpack on and heading outside to the patio. It's freezing out and the concrete stairs are even colder but she just plops down on one and finally cries.


	10. Chapter 10

Rachel pants as she tries the dance routine again, of course getting insulted by Ms. July. "Come on Schwimmer, is that the best you can manage?" Cassandra July is mean to everyone, but she's really picking on Rachel, whether it be because she sees potential, like Kurt says, or just because she doesn't like Rachel, one may never know but Rachel finally just snaps. "You are only making fun of me because you're threatened by my talent. You are nothing more than a washed up star whose career ended faster than it began. You threw your career away with that man's phone, so you know what? I'm better than you, I can out sing you any day and it kills you that you can't stop me." Rachel gets in Cassandra's face, everyone else suddenly dead silent, waiting for Cassandra to snap back.

"You're out." She motions to the door with her dance stick before yelling, "Get the hell out of my classroom." Rachel scurries and grabs her bag before heading home. Kurt is lounging on the couch when she pulls the door closed. She jumps, not expecting anyone to be home. "I thought you had work today."

"Day off. Oh Blaine's on Skype, say hi." He announces, pointing at his computer resting on the coffee table. Rachel sets her bag on the table and walks up behind the couch, leaning over it to see Blaine. She fake gasps and her hand flies to her mouth as she points at the screen with the other one. "Something is attacking Blaine's head." Blaine flips her off as Kurt laughs and scoots over so she can sit on the couch with him. Blaine's hair is wet from his recent shower and for once not in cased in gel. "So funny Rachel."

"So how's McKinnley? Anything fun going on?" Rachel hints, almost setting Blaine up for failure. His reaction, however doesn't change. "Uh well I mean we're a little behind on practice for Nationals but other than that. I paid the Warblers a visit.." He gets up off of his bed and disappears from the frame but they can still hear him digging around in his room. He reappears on screen wearing just gray sweatpant joggers and Rachel smiles inwardly when she hears Kurt's sharp intake. "Well I should get going, I have to go to rehearsal for Funny Girl and well," She pats Kurt on the shoulder as she gets up and hurries out of the apartment, not wanting to be there when things start getting intimate. She hears Blaine mutter something, followed by Kurt laughing and she knows he's making jokes about her. "Watch yourself Warbler," She threatens as she hears Blaine laughing at his own inappropriate joke. "Go, you'll be late for your date." Kurt shoos her out the door and she hears Blaine make a joke about charge per hour. Kurt meant the word 'date' as a set time schedule commitment but Blaine is joking about the fact that her last boyfriend was a gigolo. Kurt gets up from the couch to push Rachel out the door. She mutters how immature they are before closing the door after her. When Kurt takes his spot back on the couch, Blaine is once again missing from the frame. "I miss you." He states, his response being a muffled 'I miss you too' from somewhere in the distance. Kurt finally lets his curiosity over take him and he asks what Blaine is doing. "What are you doing over there?"

"Not what, who." Blaine mumbles as he crawls back on his bed, seeing the reaction on Kurt's face and laughing. "I'm joking. No I was just plugging in my phone, it's dead again." Blaine does want to tell Kurt about the one night stand but he can't, he can't do that to Kurt. "So how's the internship, well besides busy?" Blaine asks, totally changing the topic without Kurt giving the cheating joke another thought.


	11. Chapter 11

"Alright guys, Nationals. We've made it and we're going to kill it." Finn states, while writing Nationals on the whiteboard. Sam punches Blaine, who's once again texting and motions to the board, chuckling at Finn's incorrect spelling of the word Nationals. "Uh are we going to Nationals or 'Natonals'?" Blaine mocks, pointing out the missing 'I' in the spelling. "Alright smart ass, moving on. I know that we only have two weeks so I brought in some help to decide who will be singing the five solos for Natonals." Finn purposely mispronounces the word and leaves the incorrect spelling on the board just to piss off Blaine. "Alright so I know that some of you have already managed a Nationals win,-"

"Multiple times." Blaine mutters, yawning to show his disinterest. Finn rolls his eyes and lets the comment slide, continuing on with what he was trying to say. "But some of you, have never competed in anything more than sectionals and well, we didn't do so good in that so I figured what's a better way to get you all up to speed than a little friendly competition." Finn suggests and that gets everyone's attention, including Blaine who was acting disinterested and Sam who was almost asleep. "Another boys vs girls cause we all know that the guys will dominate again." Sam suggests, perking up.

"No, actually I asked some of the grads to help with this. Each of you, will ask a grad to compete with them in a battle. One song, the two of you and then the winners battle until we have a winner. We'll work for Nationals after school but the best thing to do is not to over prepare and stress so during lunches we'll have a little bit of fun." Finn says and then Quinn, Santana, Rachel, Kurt, Puck, Mercedes and Mike walk in. "So does everyone understand?"

Ryder and Jake whisper, laughing silently and then Ryder asks for a demonstration. "I mean, we don't have anything planned or anything but-"

"Alright Free Willy, allow me to shed some light here. Your pervy football star wants a demo so let's give him something. Warbler get up here." Blaine looks up, surprised that Santana is dragging him into this. "Smooth Criminal, MJ, remember it?" She asks, talking about the arrangement of her and Sebastian from last year. Santana told Blaine about them singing together, and then so did Sebastian but no one else knows. "Yeah, I think I can manage a little MJ." He states, shedding his cardigan and approaching her, her telling the band how to back them up. They perform the song, exactly like she originally did with her now boyfriend only minus the insults and slushees. The group of new members stand and applaud, even the graduates applaud them. "So that's the basic idea, then we'd vote and the finalists will perform together in the auditorium and we'll choose a winner from there and you will have to challenge the grads, so don't be afraid, only a few will bite." Finn jokes as the bell rings, ending the lunch period.


	12. Chapter 12

Blaine and Sam both skip their next hour to hang with the grads in the choir room. "So Nationals? Do you really think the fresh meat can handle it?" Santana asks sitting down in her regular seat. "Yeah, it's stressful and these guys barely held it together for a school musical, now you're busing them to LA." Quinn chips in.

"No, they can handle it. I know it's scary and for the first time it's always stressful and awkward but with some leaders like Sam and Blaine we can totally manage to be back to back winners. LA has nothing on us." Finn is confident because he really wants these kids to win because he wants to prove himself. Santana scoffs, "Alright squishyteets, I'll let you in on a little secret. Trouty Mouth and Gay Warbler are going to screw you over in LA. LA is the city of drinking, smoking and gay bars so you may want to consider your choices for tour guides. Just saying."

Blaine scoffs and stands up to Santana. "You know what Santana, just because you like to spend your free time bar hopping and your highest paying job is on a pole doesn't give you the right to insult everyone else. You're not better than anyone else here so get over yourself." He says, dropping an insult and calling her a stripper. She glares at him, just plotting her revenge. "You're the last one who gets to talk Blaine. At least my relationships usually only involve one guy." She hints at his cheating and he argues back, not letting her out that while he's sitting next to his boyfriend. "And what's that supposed to mean?" He challenges her, even though he knows to keep this secret a secret he should shut up but he's not going to let her win this fight. "It's not right, but it's okay." She smirks, dropping a major hint that causes the others to think about what she means but he and Rachel know exactly what she means. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, heading out of the choir room. "I should get to class, that is if I want a job better than singing in an old people diner and clinging to a pole." Sam grabs his backpack and chases after his best friend. "Blaine! Blaine wait up? What is she talking about?"

"He cheated. Pay up Puckerman." Quinn states, walking up behind them with Puck. "You bet on my relationship?" Blaine's tone is dripping with disgust as he cocks an eyebrow. He's just thinking how he's going to get out of this with Kurt. Puck drops a wadded up ten into Quinn's extended hand, who smirks as she pockets her newly won money. Blaine rolls his eyes and heads to his class, the rest of his school day creeping by slowly and then Glee practice and the grads are gone, some party Finn mentions. "Practice will be shorter today because the grads have Breadstix rented out for a party which all of you are invited to. I shouldn't tell you guys, especially you Blaine, but there is an open bar and private parties don't card so please, if you drink, have a designated driver." The practice only goes until four thirty and then they're dismissed. It's a Wednesday night and drinking and getting hungover isn't ideal for a school night but Blaine is not going to miss a party with some of his best friends. He shudders as the cool wind blows. It's not snowing yet but it's almost below zero. He rubs his hands together and shudders as he starts his car and tries to warm up. "Yeah, that's one thing I don't miss about Lima." Blaine jumps in his seat and swears as Kurt speaks. "Oh god. Shit Kurt you scared the hell out of me." He mutters but before Kurt can respond he crashes his lips onto his. When he pulls back Kurt chuckles, panting slightly, "And there's one thing I did miss about Lima." Blaine chuckles, thankfully Kurt must've just assumed that Santana was joking or insulting Blaine, assuming that he's dating Sam. Of course Kurt and the grads know that Sam is straight but Santana does love to insult the both of them. Blaine shifts in his seat, undoing his seatbelt and moving in on Kurt again. Kurt chuckles as their make out session gets heated quickly. "Blaine." Kurt mumbles in between sloppy kisses. "The party." He can't stop himself from wanting to kiss his boyfriend long enough for Blaine to actually drive them to Breadstix. "We should go." Kurt mumbles and then moans as Blaine moves down to his neck. Kurt is rather disappointed when Blaine listens and backs off. "God I've missed you so much."


	13. Chapter 13

"Aye! We were just about to place bets on whether or not you two would show." Mercedes jokes as Blaine and Kurt walk in together a half hour late. "Bad weather makes for even worse traffic." Blaine always uses weather for an excuse in the winter. "Funny, I didn't have any trouble with traffic." Santana acts confused about what traffic he's talking about. "And I never saw any type of weather. Is it snowing?" Puck joins in, playfully mocking the two. Kurt just rolls his eyes, dodging his classmates playful banter and mockery and heading over to the bar where Finn has set up camp.

"Hey," Kurt mumbles as he slides up to the bar next to his brother. Kurt notices how hammered Finn is when he doesn't even acknowledge him. "And I thought Blaine was the heavy drinker." Kurt grumbles, chuckling slightly at his own joke. Finn clearly didn't hear his joke, he looks up from his beer and slightly jumps. "Dude it's so cool that you graduated. I didn't know that you could even do that. I'm so proud of you." Finn slurs as he wraps his arm around Kurt's neck, pulling him close. Kurt laughs and pries his brother off of him. "Finn how long have you been here?"

"You know, I just don't know. Bartender, another!" Finn raises his glass and calls for another beer, which Kurt waves off. Blaine walks up behind the duo, trying not to laugh at the hammered mess that is Finn Hudson. Blaine orders a beer and leans against the bar next to Kurt. "Someone's having a good night." Blaine mutters, motioning to Finn.

"Yeah, god it's been open for half hour and he's completely zonked. That has to be like a record or something." Kurt sighs and Blaine quickly plants a kiss on his lips before grabbing his beer from the bartender. "You, just need to learn to live a little. Relax," Blaine tries to convince his boyfriend to be more spontaneous and just live in the moment but he knows that's not one of Kurt's traits.

"It's honestly so cool how you two are still friends." Finn is just drunk mumbling and although Kurt finds it annoying because he feels as if Finn is his responsibility, most of what Finn is saying is pretty funny. "Rachel cheated on me." Finn mumbles, trying not to cry. Blaine tries not to laugh and he can tell Kurt is doing the same. "Yeah we know. Sorry 'bout that buddy." Kurt pats Finn on the back and almost knocks him off of his bar stool. Kurt pulls a beer away from Finn, who's it is, he doesn't know but he knows his brother is the last person who needs another one. "We should take him home." Kurt suggests, Blaine just suggests to leave him, "It's not like he's going anywhere, come on, let's dance." Blaine tries to drag Kurt to the dance floor, pointing over at Finn, trying to argue that he's fine but as he argues that Finn holds up his fingers, moving them and then laughing. "Take him home, yeah right behind you." Blaine agrees as Finn almost falls off the bar stool. "We can't take him home, Carole and dad will destroy him, me and probably in some way you too." Kurt argues, and even though Blaine really doesn't want a drunk Finn as a roommate he knows Kurt is right. "Fine he can stay at my place tonight but if he throws up it's your responsibility." Blaine drapes Finn's arm across his shoulders and drags him out to his pickup which Kurt has already started. "Lay him in the back, he'll be less likely to throw up that way." Kurt helps Blaine get Finn into the backseat and then Blaine follows Kurt to his place. Blaine doesn't live really close to McKinnley, he lives closer to Dalton than to McKinnley because it was easier to find a house in the richer neighborhood of the Dalton area. Kurt and him crash at his place a lot, to the point where Burt actually told Kurt that he's not allowed at Blaine's during the school week because his school work was slipping. True, during Kurt's senior year, they would spend their time on more entertaining things instead of homework but that didn't fly with Burt. When Blaine pulls into his driveway Kurt is already there parked on the side of the street. Kurt has Finn laid out on the shorter of the two leather couches when Blaine gets inside. "If he throws up on that carpet." Blaine mumbles as he grabs himself a beer from the fridge, offering one to Kurt but he knows his boyfriend will turn down the offer. Kurt doesn't like drinking, he will, occasionally with Blaine on a date or on a holiday with Rachel but personally he doesn't like alcohol as much as others and he really detests when Blaine drinks. "Well now we can't have any fun because Finn ruined our plans…" Blaine suggests as he sits down on the longer couch with Kurt. They end up just watching musical movies for the night until Blaine drifts off to sleep, snuggling up against Kurt, his head resting in the crook of Kurt's neck.


	14. Chapter 14

"Where'd Kurt get off to?" Rachel shouts over the pounding music. She's spent most of her night with Santana and Quinn, who have become surprisingly close friends despite the fact they hated each other in high school. "Lady Hummel and Gay Warbler ditched about ten after they showed." Santana yells back, grabbing a glass of white wine off a passing waiter.

"Which means we all know what he's doing tonight." Rachel jokingly insults her best friend. "Or more likely who." She adds later, laughing.

"I don't know, I see Lady Hummel as more of a bottom feeder." Quinn chimes in laughing before ditching the other two to go dance with Puck. Santana and Rachel venture away from the crowded and loud dance floor to the bar, where they plop down on the stools. Rachel scans the room before asking about Finn, noticing that he too is gone. "He probably got pouty and left." Santana suggests, flagging the bartender down for another glass of wine. Santana leans over the bar and snatches the bottle of vodka when the bartender isn't looking. "I just hope that Finn is okay, you know? Like maybe leaving him was wrong but it feels wrong to be with him." Rachel is just generally speaking, bouncing ideas off of the person who is slowly becoming a really good friend. "Is it wrong?" Rachel asks, looking up at Santana for advice.

"Can't be any worse than dating a gigolo." Santana mutters before taking a drink of wine. Rachel, in turn, elbows her and laughs, "So Brody was a mistake,"

"Yeah one that almost got you preggers." Santana chips in, remembering back to the pregnancy scare that Rachel had. "I messed up, it's not like anything happened."

"Queen of understatements." Santana chuckles before dragging Rachel out to the dance floor to meet up with Quinn and Puck again.


	15. Chapter 15

Blaine wakes up from lightly snoring on Kurt's shoulder when he feels Kurt move underneath him. Kurt tried to get up when the movie ended but Blaine was so peaceful so he just waited patiently and now he's trying to get up without waking his boyfriend but clearly failing when Blaine yawns and stretches out. Blaine groans as Kurt flips on the overhead light, making him squint. "What time is it?"

"Just after midnight, too tired to have some fun cause I can go." Kurt jokes but Blaine is up and at his side in a second, holding onto his hips, not allowing him to go anywhere. Kurt leans in and sneaks a kiss before wedging himself out of his boyfriend's grasp. Blaine grabs his beer from earlier, taking a swig of it before asking about Kurt's dad, who's once again fighting cancer. "How's Burt doing?"

"He uh, he keeps saying he's fine, he's back at work but um," Kurt sighs, clearly worried but Blaine grabs his hand, trying to calm his boyfriend.

"Hey, hey, he's not going to lie to you. If there was something to worry about he'd tell you Kurt. If he says not to worry, then don't. It causes wrinkles." Blaine jokes before dumping out the rest of his beer which is now warm and disgusting. Blaine sets the empty bottle down in the sink and grabs Kurt, who's leaning against the island countertop. Blaine leans in and kisses his boyfriend, not caring that his boyfriend's older brother is passed out on his couch. Kurt groans as Blaine grabs at his pants, teasing with his belt.

"Ugh, I'm not sure what's more painful, my hangover or watching you two fight over a grape." Finn starts making comments as he wakes, his head pounding. Blaine just rolls his eyes as he backs off of Kurt and grabs a juice box from the fridge and tosses it to Finn who catches it and gives Blaine a judging look. "It helps with hangovers, trust me."

Finn shrugs, still slightly judging but downs the juice. "Hold up. How'd I end up here? I'm assuming this is your place?" Finn asks, peeling himself off the leather couch. He's never been to Blaine's before, in fact not many of his friend have. Kurt, Sam, Sebastian, Wes and David are the only ones he's ever had over. "Yeah this is Blaine's place, we didn't just break in and you were hammered by the time we arrived at Breadstix." Kurt explains and Blaine notices his phone buzzing on the counter. He grabs it, answering the call, laughing when he does. "Hi Blainey Days. I just wanted to tell you how incredibly sexy you are and how you should totally be straight because I'm your biggest fan. Screw that Blaine, you don't even have to be straight, just screw me. Please." He laughs as she slurs and giggles as she tries to convince Blaine to sleep with her. Finn and Kurt are both staring, wondering what's so funny. Blaine mouths 'it's Tina,' as he points at his phone. Blaine just laughs, managing a sarcastic, 'Ok yeah Tina' before hanging up on his female friend. "What did she want?" Kurt asks as he sets his phone on the counter and laughs. "She wanted me to be straight so I could screw her, her words not mine." Kurt and Finn both laugh, "She was clearly drunk. God if I ever get that bad, and I know I do, please take my phone away from me." Blaine laughs before Finn mentions that he should probably head home. After Finn leaves, Kurt and Blaine return to their spot on the couch, just watching another movie until Blaine finally breaks the silence. "Have you ever wondered what it'd be like with a girl?" Kurt sits up and looks over at his boyfriend. "You're not actually considering screwing Tina are you?"

Blaine laughs off his question, reassuring him that his answer is definitely a no. "I'm just wondering, like in general, they always say that college students experiment so have you ever just had the urge to, you know hook up with someone, maybe even a close friend. Like Rachel or Santana or," Blaine drifts off, Kurt actually just sitting there in amazement by his question. "I can genuinely say that I've never wanted to have sex with Rachel, but clearly you do." Kurt's tone is a little angered, this is not the first time that Blaine has mentioned 'experimenting with Rachel,' he mentioned it when they first went to Rachel's party two years ago. "No, don't get me wrong. I'm not interested in Rachel or any girl in a serious way, I'm gay and I'm totally happy with my decision, and my relationship." He mentions, pulling Kurt close to his chest, snuggling up with his boyfriend. "To answer your question, no I've never wondered what it'd be like with a girl because I know nothing is ever going to be better than being with you." Kurt mumbles as he snuggles deeper into Blaine's chest. Blaine chuckles, which causes Kurt to smile, feeling the vibrations of his boyfriend's hearty laugh underneath him. Blaine gently plants a kiss on Kurt's forehead, then moves down until his lips connect with Kurt's. Kurt groans into the kiss as Blaine's hand travels down his chest, past his stomach and lower. "Blaine," Kurt mutters as Blaine nibbles on Kurt's ear ever so gently. "Blaine." Kurt's muttering Blaine's name because that's all he seems to be able to say. Blaine smirks as he attaches himself to Kurt's neck, feeling Kurt grind up against him, begging him. As much as Blaine wants it, he can't. He can't bring himself to be totally bare and intimate with his boyfriend because he's scared that the truth might finally come out. He quickly makes up some excuse to Kurt about not feeling well, suggesting that they just watch another movie and rest which thankfully Kurt goes for.


	16. Chapter 16

"Alright, first day of performances, who wants to start us off?" Finn asks as everyone, including the alumni settle into chairs. The alumni would've had to fight for the chance to go first but these kids now have to be begged to go. "I'll let the grads choose and they love to perform.." Finn mentions, in hopes to encourage someone to volunteer. When none of the younger students make a move to go, Finn allows the grads to volunteer. Finn had asked the seniors, Blaine, Sam, Tina, and Artie to let the new students go first so instead of jumping to go they hang back, Blaine whispering with Kurt while Sam, Puck, Artie and Mike make insensitive jokes in the back. "Alright, grads can go." Quinn is the first to say anything, and Ryder, her partner sighs. He asked her to perform with him because he's starting to get a slight crush on the Yale scholar. The song they chose is Journey's 'Separate Ways.' Ryder starts, joined by Quinn, who is nailing the song. After they finish everyone applauds, impressed by the talent shown. "I don't think I've heard Quinn sing a Journey song, normally she just insults us for singing Journey." Puck whispers to Mike who totally nods, almost in a trance like state after watching her perform. "Alright, guys that was amazing but now it's time for everyone to vote and declare a winner." Finn says, asking for a vote, a show by hands. Unfortunately for Ryder, Quinn wins hands down. "You did good bro. Perry would be proud." Jake mutters to Ryder as he sits down disappointedly. Ryder just nods, knowing that Jake is trying to cheer him up. "Who's next?" Now after watching Ryder lose the new members are even more hesitant to perform. "Alright we'll go." Blaine says, standing up. Kitty yawns in a disinterested way before making an insulting comment. "Oh please, we all know that his fiancé is going to let him win so he's not embarrassed." Kitty starks and a few of the grads snicker but Blaine shrugs it off. "Although Kurt isn't going to let me win anything, I challenged Rachel because I knew that you'd be too scared to Kitty." Blaine responds, totally ignoring the fact that Kitty called Kurt his fiancé, it has a nice ring and he wouldn't mind it being true. The song that Rachel and Blaine are performing is a renewed version of the song they sang together at her party, 'Don't You Want Me Baby?' Both of them have improved since then and currently neither of them is drunk so the performance is much less painful to watch. "Wow." Finn is in awe with Rachel, really missing her, and he can tell that NYADA has really helped her improve in her vocal capacities. He's glad that he's not someone who has to vote because he can't choose between Blaine, who was slightly better, and Rachel, who he is trying to win back. The group is also amazed, the vote being even, a tie for who won, making Finn have to choose. "Come on Finn, you're the deciding vote." Blaine says, turning the attention to him. "Yeah Mr. Hudson it's all you." Rachel chimes in, smiling. Singing still being her natural high. She's beautiful, even though she's panting slightly from the performance. He knows who won, he knows the right answer, but that's not who he chooses. "Rachel won it, sorry Blaine."

Marley and Puck perform, her beating him and Artie winning against Mike, not that anyone saw that as a big surprise. After the Finn dismisses them Blaine heads to his locker to grab his books for his next hour and Kurt leans against the locker next to his. "You know you totally won." Kurt says, breaking the silence. "Yeah, feel like I really won. I got what I deserved, got cocky and lost." Blaine's response is toned down but Kurt can tell that if he wasn't on the grounds of a public school he'd have a few more things to add. "Come on. You totally rocked it back there and it's not like you have to prove to anyone that you're a talented performer. You've won Nationals all three years that you've gone, what's to stop you from winning it again a fourth year?"

"Finn? Rachel? The rest of the team?" Blaine offers as Kurt attempts to cheer him up. "You should get going, I have a class."

"Meet after? We haven't gotten coffee at the Lima Bean in like forever. Come on, meet you there after school." Kurt states, making it less of a suggestion and more of a direct order. Blaine just shrugs as he slams his locker shut. "I have a lot of homework and I still have to write my NYADA letter for my audition in a few weeks."  
"So perfect, we'll meet at Lima Bean and then we can crash at my place." Kurt walks off before Blaine can protest. Blaine just smiles as he shakes his head at his devoted boyfriend, just wondering how he got so lucky but then he also remembers that he's the luckiest man on the earth and he still cheated.

"Hey Pouty Mouth!" Blaine hears Sam call and he pauses and waits as Sam jogs towards him. "Pouty Mouth?" Blaine questions as he cocks an eyebrow at his usually pretty creative friend. "What's the deal with you and Santana?"

Blaine just stares at him, like he's expecting him to explain more but Sam doesn't. "Alright you're gonna need to give me more than that." Blaine says as he just stares at Sam. "She spent the whole class texting her 'Warbler.' On her phone and you were on your phone just as much and you're the only Warbler she knows." Blaine laughs, like flat out laughs out loud. "You think I'm in a relationship with Santana? You do realize that there's a school of Warblers less than an hour away right? Yes she's dating a Warbler but no it's not me." Sam just sighs as he has this great revelation. "So do you know who this 'Warbler' is and when are you going to tell me?" Blaine just shakes his head as he laughs and elbows Sam into the lockers. "You're actually pathetic."

"Coming from the guy who had a crush on me." Sam rebuttals and pushes off the lockers.

"Briefly." Blaine chimes in as he drapes his arm over Sam's shoulders and pulls him down.


	17. Chapter 17

After school and Glee rehearsals Blaine hustles out to his car, really hating cold weather. He calls Santana on his way to meet Kurt at the Lima Bean. "What is it now Gay Warbler?" In the background Blaine can hear Sebastian laugh and he knows that he's interrupted someone's nighttime activities. "Well Sam just asked me if I was dating you so next time you spend your class period texting 'Warbler,' make sure you don't be so obvious because unlike some other 'gay' Warblers, I'm not going to screw you." Blaine gets his dig in on Sebastian and Santana and hangs up before she can even insult him back. He parks next to Kurt's car and hurriedly scuttles in. Just like old times, Kurt is sitting at their usual table with a drink, but this time Blaine's drink is there too, no more waiting in line. He sits down across from Kurt, barely even hearing Kurt's greeting because he's too busy replaying their first time here in his head.

 _They were both wearing Warbler jackets with scarves, his grey, made of wool for the winter weather and Kurt's navy blue made of some high end material, most likely to impress Blaine. They were both nervous to be together in public. Kurt hadn't told his dad or any of his friends about Blaine and Blaine hadn't had a clue of what to say. It had only been a few hours, but it felt like minutes, since their first kiss and neither one knew what to say. Blaine starts, stuttering as he tries to drum up a conversation about the warm coffee drink he had in his hand and then when that failed he moved onto the cold weather and then about the Warblers' selection of music. Kurt had been silent since they had sat down at a random table of Blaine's choosing until finally, finally he brings up their kiss._

"Blaine? You still with me?" Kurt laughs as his boyfriend jumps, almost spilling the drink in his hand. "Yeah, yeah sorry." Blaine apologizes, waking from his daydream. Kurt can tell by the smile on Blaine's face that he was clearly thinking of some happy past memory, "Whatcha thinking about?" Kurt covers Blaine's left hand with his own, smiling at his boyfriend who finally lifts his head to look at Kurt. "Us. Do you remember our first time here?" Blaine asks before finally taking a drink of his coffee instead of just using it as a hand warmer. "Yeah, god I wore that gay scarf trying to impress you. Do you remember it? That stupid navy blue one that was a stupid rip off of something I saw on tv." Kurt laughs, flashing back to the memory of them. "Good times, good times."

Blaine chuckles but Kurt knows him good enough to know that he's not really focused at all on whatever Kurt is saying. He's been distant and zoning in and out a lot lately and Kurt can't seem to get him to tell him why. "I don't think NYADA is right for me." Blaine suddenly says out of nowhere. He's never said anything to Kurt about backing out but with his audition in less than two weeks he's getting cold feet. Kurt gently lets Blaine's hand slip from his as his boyfriend closes off. Kurt's never seen Blaine nervous or back out of anything, he's the brave one of the duo. "Ok well you've never mentioned doubting it before, is there a reason why?" Kurt knows it's nerves but if he says that of course Blaine will argue back. "I just don't think it's what I want anymore. What about med school? I mean becoming a lawyer always seemed fun, or maybe a teacher, like what Shue is doing or Finn." Blaine starts listing off very different career options and Kurt just laughs, shaking his head at his very adorable boyfriend. "You hate following rules, you hate kids, and the last time you saw your own blood you fainted." Kurt points out, blowing all of Blaine's fallback plans out of the water. "I'm sure when I have kids I'll like them." Blaine jokingly argues back and Kurt smiles inwardly at the thought of him and Blaine as parents together. Blaine, on the other hand, can't help but smile as he remembers back to the time he and some of his Warbler best friends stunk out at night his sophomore year and he may or may not have severely injured himself, attempting to climb a tree. It was just a large cut but he panicked when he saw the blood and then fainted, having to be hauled back to his dorm room by Wes, David, and Kurt. Blaine's foot is tapping uncontrollably on the floor, just an obvious sign of his nervousness. "You know you're incredibly hot when you're nervous." Blaine blushes, looking down at the table and mumbling a response. "Duly noted." Kurt chuckles as Blaine downs the rest of his coffee and gets up, "Well I actually do have homework to do so I should get going." Blaine mentions, saying goodbye to his boyfriend. Kurt follows him out, throwing away his half empty drink on the way out. "So my place or yours?" Blaine just chuckles as he slides into the driver's seat of his car. "Yours." Blaine responds, before revving the engine of his car and heading out of the parking lot.


	18. Chapter 18

Santana laughs as she lays back on the college dorm sized bed. "I swear you will be the death of me Smythe." She mutters, staring at the patterns on the ceiling of her boyfriend's dorm room. "God I've missed you." He claims as he lays down next to her, slightly sweaty from their recent activity. He's not into cuddling, it's usually a 'one and done' kind of relationship with them and she doesn't mind, it was supposed to be no strings attached but then they started getting attached. He's now a senior at Dalton and he's reclaimed his spot as Warbler's captain after the Hunter incident involving many 'not even remotely bi curious' jokes and drugs. "Blaine knows about us." She mutters as she drifts into a sleep like state. He plants a kiss of her forehead before pushing himself up off the bed. "Anderson won't tell. Afterall I'm sure he and his hobbit of a boyfriend lost a few hours of sleep in these very dorms." Sebastian and Blaine are friends now, almost like brothers like the rest of the Warblers but Kurt still has a deep hatred for the guy. After Blaine convinced Kurt to take off to New York and chase his dreams Blaine started meeting up with his Warbler friends more for parties after hours and long nights of drinking. Many of his friends from Dalton have begged him to come back to the school now that Kurt has graduated and moved on but Blaine has made it clear that he intends to finish his schooling in McKinnley. Santana grumbles as Sebastian starts redressing, reaching for his slightly wrinkled blazer off of his stoner of a roommate's bed. "You should get going, I have practice and Zeke may actually come back sometime this week." Sebastian is trying to get his roommate kicked out of the school but so far it's been a lot of paperwork and not a lot of roommate leaving. Santana mumbles something in spanish as she kicks her legs out, not wanting to move. He chuckles and pulls her up, "Come on babe, you've got to get going." She finally gives in but not before letting a string of swear words in spanish fly. He only catches a few of them, she's fluent in spanish and he's fluent in french and they each only pick up what's important. She grabs her red and black dress and slides it back on before heading out. "Same time tomorrow Sebastian?" She hints at suggestively as they go their separate ways. When she confronted Sebastian about the slushee that put Blaine in the hospital she got a little more than a confession. First it was just a slight attraction, like a battery just about to die but then it grew stronger until it was a budding relationship but not it's just late nights and quick visits when she comes to town.


	19. Chapter 19

Ryder sighs and throws his pencil down on the table, giving up. "This is pointless. I'm not getting any better, I'll be a freak for the rest of my life! I'm stupid!" He rants as he slams his english textbook shut and pounds his closed fists on the wooden kitchen table. His mom is standing in the kitchen cooking, just watching her son have another one of his more common mental breakdowns. Only this one hasn't had any flying objects yet. "You're going to get better. Ryder you're not stupid, you're just different and you're getting the proper help. I know right now it seems hard but-"

"No. You don't get it. You're normal, you didn't have to deal with this. You didn't spend your friday nights with some damned specialist who isn't even helping. He's probably just some pedophile. You're going to feel bad when he sells me into prostitution one night." His mom just chuckles as she listens to her son complain. The specialist is an amazing doctor who in the long run is helping Ryder but right now he's just mad because his appointments are starting to affect his football schedule and he's worried that he'll have to quit football or glee and he doesn't want that. She has really been pushing him to keep up on his school work even though it's harder for him but she's promised to pay for his trip to Nationals if his next test result is higher than his average C-. Part of him knows that this specialist is going to really help him, it will help this dyslexia get better but he can't seem to understand that now when everything seems so hard for him. His friends' biggest concerns are what color dress to wear for the Sadie Hawkins dance or which race group they fit in, not that Jake doesn't fit in either, in fact he fits in both and both groups love him. "I'll just finish homework upstairs." He mutters, closing his math textbook and grabbing his other books off the table and heading upstairs, hearing his mom's favorite saying of 'don't be on your phone.' He just rolls his eyes as he throws his backpack on the floor and lays back on his bed. Of course he gets on his phone, texting Katie or Catfish.

' **Hey..'** He starts the conversation, hoping she'll answer. He knows that Katie isn't real but whoever is his catfish is and he feels like he's really connected with them. He knows it's someone in Glee because the phone ringing during the shooting a few weeks back.

' **Hi, what's new?'**

' **I lost the challenge today in glee… did u?'** He knows that if 'Katie' answers with a yes or no then he can start narrowing down who the possibilities are.

' **I can't tell u that. I wish I could see u in person.'**

' **Then why don't we meet?'** He wants nothing more than to have a face to face with 'Katie.'

' **Bc I don't want to ruin what we have. I really like u Ryder.'**

' **I don't even know who u really r but I feel like we're connected. I've told u more about me than I have ever told anyone, not even my parents.'**

' **And I've told u more about me than anyone else. I feel like u really understand me Ryder. I just don't ever want anything to ruin our relationship. R u excited for Nationals?'**

' **I'd be more excited if I knew who u were. I want to go to Nationals with u. Maybe you'll finally reveal yourself by then.'** Ryder hints at, signalling that not only does he want to know who 'Katie' is but he also wants a serious relationship.

' **I can't tell u who I am Ryder, but I can tell u that what I'm feeling is real. You're the best thing that has happened to me, and trust me I've been through a lot. You're the first person to know the truth about me. I've never told anyone about my past, or my feelings for u.'**

' **I don't get it though. If u really have feelings for me then why keep messing with my head? Why not reveal yourself, you've already lied to me, what is it going to take to get u to trust me?'**

' **Ryder I do trust u, with all of my heart but I don't want to mess that up by revealing my true self to u. Why do we have to reveal ourselves? What's wrong with this?'**

' **Well nothing I guess, I just really want to be able to look across that stage at Nationals and smile at u, knowing that I really have a friend in glee club. Someone who really cares and someone who gets me, u know? I guess it's stupid, this is working but I guess I can't kiss u from a computer screen.'** He admits the truth to her, or him. Really he doesn't have a clue who his catfish is. ' **I have homework, and helicopter parents. I have to go.'** He signs off first, trying to make himself focus on his homework instead of his catfished relationship. The more he strains himself with homework the more his head seems to hurt, it's like a bad concussion but it's just because he's stupid. He rolls over and pulls a bottle of pills out from under his nightstand. The pills aren't anything serious, just Tylenol but he doesn't exactly follow the dosage on the bottle. He knows how his parents and friends would react if they found out that he's been self medicating but it's helping with the pain and it's his only way of getting through school. His dad has made it clear that if his grades don't improve he'll have to drop Glee or football and he doesn't want to quit either so he's decided on drugs as the answer.


	20. Chapter 20

"Marley can you help with the potatoes? They need to be washed and skinned in the next ten minutes and I have my hands full with this chicken." Marley is sitting in the school lunchroom struggling through her geometry homework as her mom works to prepare the school lunches for the week. Marley shuts her textbook and springs up, relieved to get a break from the math homework that she doesn't understand. "Oh guess what? You know the star of the new Broadway show Funny Girl?"

Marley's mom just shakes her head and looks at her daughter, "You know I don't know anything about Broadway or any of the music things that you follow."

"Ok well anyways, the star is Rachel. She went here last year and she's totally like the best singer ever, well except for maybe Blaine who had a face off with her today in Glee and it was so good. Oh and Tina totally convinced Blaine so now the Sadie Hawkins is totally official and I'm so excited. I want to ask Blaine to go with me, I mean he's cute and it's not the drama that is was with Jake or even Ryder." Marley first fangirls about how talented Rachel is before shifting into her crush on Blaine. Her mom is glad that she's not still grovelling about Jake cheating on her but she's not happy about Marley's irrational crush on a guy like Blaine. "Marley I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why because I just broke up with Jake? He's going to be there and I'm not going to let him scare me away from going. You said so in the beginning of the year that I should get out more and make friends. Blaine is the perfect guy to go with because he's not going to pressure me into anything." Marley argues back, proving her mom's case accidently. "Yes, that's because he's in a relationship Marley, with another man. Blaine may be a nice enough guy and I have nothing against him being gay, but I don't want you to get your hopes up for him." Marley tries not to snap as her mom suddenly becomes overprotective and very against Blaine. She knows that her mom doesn't support Blaine being gay no matter what she says, it's always bothered her mom. "Well I get what you're saying, I'm still going to ask him because he's a friend and that's all I want, just one fun night with my friends from Glee."

Marley's mom sighs as Marley pushes back, "You want to ask him then go for it but I'm going to pay for your trip to Nationals if you do." Marley scoffs as her mom says that. "I'm going to go work on homework in the hallway."

Marley grabs her things and heads out to the hallway, incredibly pissed at her mom for making her choose between Nationals and a chance with Blaine.


	21. Chapter 21

"God I can't go to New York with you, I'll never get anything done." Blaine scoffs as Kurt tries to distract him and get intimate, which Blaine is still trying to dodge. Kurt chuckles, nipping at Blaine's neckline before backing off. "You excited to graduate? Get out of Ohio and out into the real world? You're going to be at NYADA with me."

"And Rachel, and to think that I've never even been to New York." Blaine responds, his nervousness coming through again. Before Kurt can respond someone knocks on his closed and locked bedroom door. "Burt just landed so if I were you I'd get the door open and try to act innocent before he comes home." It's Finn warning Kurt and Blaine of Kurt's still overprotective and worrisome dad coming home from DC. "I'd maybe put clothes on first but," Kurt rolls his eyes as he hears his step-brother chuckle to himself as he walks off. Blaine too chuckles, only to be slapped on the arm by Kurt. "I should get going, hate to interrupt the Hummel/Hudson family reunion." Blaine smirks as he adjusts his shirt and grabs his bag off of Kurt's desk chair. Kurt grabs his wrist, pulling him back. "Please don't go. You're practically part of the family so you have to stay." Kurt pretend begs his boyfriend to stay. Blaine really doesn't want to leave so it doesn't take much to convince him to stay. "Fine, but I actually have to do my homework." Kurt sighs, "Fine," Kurt moves so he's resting against the headboard and motioning for his boyfriend to sit next to him. Kurt jokingly keeps elbowing Blaine as he tries to do his math homework just to mess him up, finally laughing and holding his hands up in surrender. Kurt sighs as he hears the garage door opening signalling that his dad is home meaning that he can't be quite as clingy to Blaine as he'd like to be.

"Hey Kurt! Get down here." Kurt pushes himself up off the bed and heads downstairs, leaving his boyfriend alone to do homework. "Hey how was DC?" Kurt asks in a cheerful manner as he rounds the corner to the kitchen. He hasn't seen his dad since he moved out to New York, well he hasn't seen anyone except Rachel and Santana since he moved out but he's been looking forward to coming back home to see Blaine and his dad. "Apparently not as fun as New York." Kurt can tell from his dad's tone that he's pissed about something. "What are you talking about?" Kurt asks, trying to act like he doesn't know what his dad is upset about but he knows that his dad must've found out about his involvement in NYADA's student musical, Adam's Apples. "Kurt Hummel stars in New York's very own drama academy's performance of student's 'risky' musical as best lead gay." Burt drops a newspaper on the counter as he reads off the headline. Kurt is slightly impressed that he made a newspaper headline but he knows his dad is mad. He kicks at the ground, refusing to meet his dad's glare. The musical is risky, there are a few 'M-rated' scenes that he's in but it's getting him noticed and he's discussed it with Blaine and they're both comfortable with his involvement. "Dad it's my starting opportunity. I want to make it somewhere and so far this is the only thing I have to show for my time in New York. All of my friends are involved in something, for crying out loud, Rachel is on Broadway already." Kurt tries to reason with his dad but he knows there's no point, his dad is mad about this and nothing Kurt says is going to change his mind.

"I want you to drop out of it." Burt states as he pulls the fridge open, slightly concerned on why there's only five beers in his six pack. Carole doesn't drink beer and neither of the kids are old enough to be drinking. "Care to explain why there's only five beers in here?" Burt asks as he closes the door of the fridge and pops the cap off of the one in his hand. "Because the sixth is in your hand?" Kurt suggests, clearly confused by his dad's accusatory tone. Burt can tell that Kurt isn't joking, and that he's going to have a good talk with Finn later about underage drinking but right now his focus is on Kurt. "Look Kiddo, I know you want to get out there. I know that some of your friends have gotten noticed, but it takes time and you just need to wait for the right opportunity and this, whatever it is. This 'Adam's Apples' isn't it." Burt tries to soften his tone to get through to his son but it's pointless, Kurt has no interest in anything he has to say. "I'm not quitting or dropping out. Welcome back to Lima." Kurt adds sarcastically before heading back upstairs, slamming the door, startling Blaine. "You good?" Blaine jokes as Kurt jumps back on the bed, landing on Blaine's textbooks that Blaine scrambles to move. "He wants me to quit the one thing that could make me famous." Kurt mumbles, staring at the ceiling but playing with Blaine's leg. "Our relationship?" Blaine jokes, causing his discouraged boyfriend to laugh. "Just think, this is your first role, and yeah maybe it's not great but you're Tom Cruise before the couch. You just need your Mission Impossible break." Blaine tries to convince his boyfriend to remain positive as he uses Kurt's head to prop up his English textbook. "Or Top Gun. I always loved that movie. Great soundtrack." Blaine chuckles as he jokes. Kurt sits up, the textbook falling back onto the bed. He plucks the notebook out of Blaine's hands, shutting it before tossing off the bed with his textbook. Blaine doesn't have time to protest before Kurt's lips are on his. "God I love you." Blaine groans as Kurt rocks his hips against Blaine's trying to cause much needed friction. "Kurt-" Blaine begs as Kurt slowly moves down to his neck, breaking away only to yank his shirt off over his head. "By far the best part of coming home." Kurt mumbles in between sloppy kisses and quick nips at Blaine's bare chest and exposed neck.

"What the open door rule doesn't apply to you anymore?" Burt grumbles as he pounds on Kurt's door twice before pushing it open. "Keep 'er open New York." Burt instructs as the door swings open exposing his son on top of his boyfriend. Kurt quickly scrambles off the bed and Blaine before yelling at his dad. "Dad! Knock maybe?"

Blaine quickly pulls his shirt back on before gathering his books and slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I should go, I'll call you later." Burt sidesteps, allowing the high school senior out of the bedroom, "Good to see you again." Blaine mutters as he walks past. Burt pats him on the back as he passes, "Yeah you too kid."

"What the hell dad? How about you try knocking, or better yet, trusting me?!" Kurt yells at his dad as soon as Blaine leaves. "Really because you're acting real trustworthy. Kurt I have rules in this house. I told you, I do not want you being inappropriate in my house." Kurt tries to cut in, explaining that he's in a serious relationship with Blaine and that they're not just screwing around. "Ah, I'm not finished. Kurt I get that you think you love him. I get that it's young love and the times have changed since I was a kid. I get that, and I know that you two are serious, more so than I think you should be but I'm not going to stop you from being with him, he's a great kid and I'm happy that you've found someone like him but you are young. You have no concrete plans in life, no clue what you're really doing in New York and this high school crush is interfering with that. You're spending your time coming and going to be with him when you should be in New York, working on getting a job or doing your schoolwork, heaven forbid."

As Burt gives Kurt yet another, 'figure your life out' speech Kurt gets angry. It's not the first time his dad has hinted at him being 'too young to be too serious' with Blaine. "Well you may not like the fact that I am serious with Blaine, and that Blaine is a guy, -"

"This has nothing to do with you being gay Kurt. I'd be giving you the same speech if you were in bed with Rachel or Quinn. It does not matter in the least to me if you want to date a guy or girl and you know that I support you either way. I'd be giving this speech to Finn too if it was him I walked in on. I don't care which one of you kids it is and who you're with, I have rules and I expect them to be followed. End of discussion." Burt leaves no room for argument from Kurt, not that he has an argument that could get through his dad's thick skull.


	22. Chapter 22

Blaine dials Sam and Tina on a three way call as soon as he gets home. "You two are both single right?" Blaine asks as his opener, insulting both of his best friends unintentionally.

"Yeah why?" Tina doesn't take offense to it as she responds but Sam makes a joke, "You don't need to rub it in."

"High school, is it too early to really pursue something?" He's been really serious with Kurt for quite a few years now so he's seriously considering marriage. "Depends on what you're pursuing." Tina mentions but Sam knows what Blaine is trying to hint at. "Did he propose?"

Sam really isn't excited about it, thinking that they are too young but Tina is a hopeless romantic, thinking it's sweet and adorable. "What? No!" Blaine argues back as he digs through his fridge for dinner. "I was just wondering what you guys think about teen marriage, I mean we're both adults," Blaine starts, trying to make an argument only to be cut off by Sam.

"Barely," Sam cuts in. Blaine just turned eighteen a few months ago and Kurt is barely nineteen. "Look I get it, you've got the same mentality that Finn and Rachel had, if you don't get hitched before you graduate you'll break up."

"I'm pretty sure she cheated on him and they did break up." Blaine responds, confusion in his voice as Sam tries to use Finn and Rachel as a good example.

"In my experience, long term, long distance never works." Tina mentions, remembering back to her failed relationship with Mike. Blaine plops down on the couch, trying to backtrack out of his friend's ridicule. "Guys, I'm not saying I'm getting married in the next week, it's just a general idea. I mean I've been with Kurt for years now, it's not a secret that we're serious so why not make it official?"

"Because you're eighteen and you haven't even graduated high school?" Sam asks, clearly not on board with young marriage. "Well I know who's not going to be a best man." Blaine jokes but is actually bummed out by Sam's opposition to his suggestion.

"Sorry Blainey Days but I agree with Sam on this. I mean yeah you're serious with Kurt and I'm not saying that you two shouldn't get married, I'm just saying maybe wait, wait for college or a decent job. Try actually living together before you commit to something as serious as a marriage, I mean you might hate the way he sleeps." Tina suggests and she's not wrong, they've never had to live together but Sam cuts in with one of his infamous inappropriate jokes. "Oh I'm sure how he sleeps isn't a problem for Blainey Days." Sam mocks and Blaine sighs and facepalms. "You two are absolutely no help."

"Because we don't agree with you?" Sam challenges Blaine, Tina quickly making an excuse to leave the call before Sam and Blaine get into a fight. "What you're trying to do is stupid, you're way too young."

"I'm eighteen. I'm legally allowed to do pretty much everything but I'm 'too young' to get married? As it is I'm only allowed to get married legally in 37 states and Ohio isn't one of them so you know what? I'm sick and tired of fighting people who say no. People like me have been fighting this fight for hundreds of years and I'm sick and tired of having to make sure it's safe to hold my boyfriend's hand in public or heaven forbid, kiss him at the mall without someone yelling at us or threatening to kick us out. I'm sorry that you don't agree with me, fine don't show for the wedding then." Blaine hangs up before Sam can say anything else. He is tired of people trying to tell him no, Burt did, Tina and Sam think he's 'too young' but it's his life and the only person who has to say yes is Kurt.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning, Friday morning, Marley trots into school with her backpack square on her back and her hat proudly placed on her head. She's on a mission and no one is going to stand in her way. She stops briefly at her locker, not because she needs anything but she knows that sometimes a certain someone walks through here looking for Sam or Tina but judging by the fact that Sam is talking with Tina already she judges that her date to the Sadie Hawkins isn't coming through here. She heads to the choir room, knocking gently on the door to the office attached, seeing Finn in the office. "Oh hey Marley. Is there something I can do for ya?"

"I want to learn piano. Obviously I can't really afford to pay them anything so I was just wondering if you knew anyone who could teach me for really cheap or-"

Finn sits up in his chair and turns his attention to her, trying to think but not many of the Glee students play an instrument. "Well you could ask Brad but-"

"But he's like a registered sex offender? Or the fact that he'll probably want a really big paycheck?" Marley asks and Finn laughs, "Well there is that, I don't know many people who play piano. I mean I know Sam knows guitar but I don't think he's ever played piano. Well maybe Blaine. I guess he learned awhile back."

Marley smiles as Finn suggests the one person she was thinking about. She knows that Blaine plays piano, she's heard him messing around on it before and Sam's always insulting him about his Dalton background. "I mean I'd love to learn but I'm not sure I can pay him and I don't want to waste his time-"

"Yeah, it'd be a shame if he had something to do other than my brother. I could ask him if he's interested in teaching if you'd like." Finn offers to ask for her and she nods, "Yes please. Thanks so much Finn." She smiles and trots off to class, running into Tina. "Oh hey Marley question. Sadie Hawkins, you going?"

"I don't know I mean I'd like to ask someone. You're going with Sam right?" Tina and Sam have gotten really close, closer than just friends. "Yeah, who are you asking? I mean you're not considering taking Jake back are you?" Marley shrugs and hugs her books tighter to her chest. She knows how Tina operates, if she's showing interest in you it's because she wants to destroy you. Tina wants the solo for Nationals and even if she has to ruin Marley to get it, it's her senior year. "No, besides, I'm pretty sure Bree has already claimed him as hers. I do not need to get involved in that. No I was hoping to just go with a friend from Glee." Marley refuses to tell Tina that she's really considering Blaine because she knows that Tina will tell him and make sure he tells Marley no. "Come on, I told you that I'm going to ask Sam so unless you're going after him I can help you." Tina tries to act all kind but Marley knows better, making an excuse and ducking out of the conversation, rushing ahead to fall into step with Ryder.


	24. Chapter 24

When the bell rings ending the school day, the members of New Directions meet in the choir room. "So I've been discussing solos for Nationals and I think that I've decided. So obviously for the opener Blaine and Marley you'll handle that with 'Oops I Did it Again,' but then the actual performance is going to start off with Ryder." Ryder looks up, shocked to be getting the lead and the opening of their mash-up for Nationals. "It's 'Cold As Ice,' and then Jake takes over with 'You Give Love a Bad Name.' Artie you're going to take the lead on 'Faithfully,' and then Blaine you're on with 'Piano Man.' Slow down the mash-up before leading into the finisher of 'Eye of the Tiger' which I want the seniors to take the lead on. I know that the performance is male driven this year and I'm sorry about that but we have some really strong seniors this year so before they're gone-"  
"We're not dying, we're just graduating." Sam cuts in, making a joke about how deep Finn is making this sound. "I'm not willing to perform Piano Man for this. It's an iconic song and pretty difficult on the piano. It's stressful enough at Nationals, the last thing I want is to mess up one of Billy Joel's best hits." Blaine argues with Finn who just rolls his eyes. "You're too scared to perform it for Nationals but your future depends on it for your NYADA audition. You just want to be difficult. It's in the medley so grow a pair and start practicing your piano skills because you're doing it. Auditorium guys, let's go practice." Finn changes the subject, ending his discussion with Blaine as the club heads out to the auditorium. Blaine texts Kurt as he walks to the auditorium, falling into step with Marley and Unique.

"Sadie Hawkins, you going?" Blaine hears Marley ask Unique who responds with 'I don't know girl, you?'

As the group works on choreography of the medley Blaine argues back with Finn once again when Piano Man comes up. "I'm not doing it. No."

"Alright Puppetmaster, what do you want to do then?" Finn finally smarts back, insulting Blaine. Blaine just shakes his head as he grabs his bag and heads out. "Have Sam do it then." Blaine doesn't leave the school, he hangs back in the choir room, playing around on the piano. He's nervous for his audition and playing piano isn't helping with the nerves. He's already mentioned his concern to Kurt who's convinced he's just nervous but Blaine knows it's more than that. NYADA isn't right for him, he doesn't want it, not like he wanted to go to Dalton or come here to McKinnley. He sits down at the piano, starting with the intro of Piano Man before shifting into an acoustic and slow version of Teenage Dream. 'Before you met me, I was alright but things were kinda heavy. You brought me to life now every February, you'll be my Valentine. Valentine. So let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love. We can dance until we die you and I. We'll be young forever-er.'

As he goes in for the crescendo his voice cracks and tries not to cry as he thinks about how he ruined his relationship with Kurt. He instantly stops singing as soon as he hears the door to the choir room open. "Don't stop, you sound beautiful. I won't stay long." Marley begs as she accidentally interrupts him. He smiles and plays the melody of Chasing Pavements, one of Marley's all time favorites. "I think Finn was going to mention this to you but I might as well ask. I was hoping that you could teach me," She gets flustered and stutters as he stops playing and turns his attention totally to her. She looks up and sees the adorable smile on his face and his eyes shining. "Piano, I mean piano, like lessons." He chuckles, trying to not laugh at her because he can tell she's nervous. "I mean I am a pretty busy person and my fee is pretty steep, but I can see if I could squeeze you in." He jokes, he's obviously not going to charge one of his close friends to teach them something that he loves. "To my schedule I mean." He jokingly mocks her and she laughs. He scoots over, patting the piano bench for her to sit next to him. She feels her heart start racing as he gently pulls her hands to the keys and teaches her the basics. "I'm surprised you don't have anything better to do than deal with me." She is really psyched that he's spending time with her but still she's wondering why he would waste his time with her. "Well first off, I don't see hanging out with you as a waste," He playfully elbows her, causing her to smile. "Although I do have plans with Sebastian in about an hour, I'm making him go ring shopping with me." She wonders what he's ring shopping for but then realises that he's ring shopping. "Ring shopping like engagement ring shopping?" She asks, all interest in piano has flown out the window as he gets up and paces back and forth awkwardly. "Uh yeah, I know, I'm too young, too gay I get it," He starts to rant but she cuts him off, "No no I think it's sweet. I mean I barely know Kurt, or you really but I can tell that you're clearly in love." She's the first person who hasn't been totally against the idea of marriage, most likely because she's too young to understand how big of a commitment it is.

"Why do you want to learn piano?" He asks, changing the topic away from him and Kurt.

"I have always had an interest with music and with writing I think it's time I finally learned how to do more than sing. I was trying to convince my mom to let me take lessons earlier but then with the money for my 'sickness.'" She hesitates before calling her bulimia a sickness. He knows how things can be hard to talk about. He's dealt with drugs and alcohol and he knows people who have been affected by suicide and bullying. He hears his phone ring on the piano and he knows it's Sebastian. "Shit, I have to go. I would love to teach you I'm free during and after school and-" He rushes out the door as his phone rings again, "I have to go. Have a good weekend." He waves as he runs out and she chuckles as he almost runs into the wall. She stays behind, working on just the basics that he just taught her before reading over the music he left on the piano. The first pile is Piano Man with scribbles all over it that must be notes for him. She props up the first page and attempts the beginning of Piano Man, managing to get the notes right just at a slower tempo. 'Sing us a song you're the Piano Man. Sing us a song tonight'. She manages to turn the upbeat and fast paced song into a romantic ballad.


	25. Chapter 25

"You are totally sure about this right? This isn't just a one night thing or a good hook-up, not that I think he would be a good hook-up, he's actually probably pretty bad in bed but-"Sebastian notices the glare that Blaine is giving him and he moves on. "No, but in all seriousness Blaine, this is like totally legit and he looks like a pancake that got run over." Sebastian asks as he insults Kurt. Blaine just scoffs as he pushes him aside. "Multiple times, like seriously, it's like he got run over, then backed up on and then run over again." Blaine is skimming the many display cabinets of engagement rings while Sebastian insults Kurt. "Not gonna lie, it sounds like fun, the whole running your boyfriend over, multiple times." Blaine and Sebastian are good friends, it's like the whole rock assault never happened but still Sebastian loves to rub Blaine the wrong way by insulting Kurt. "Yes I'm sure and he does not look like a run over pancake." Blaine defends Kurt and then sees the perfect one. He elbows Sebastian who's zoning out, bored out of his mind and he's running out of insults. "Ow the hell."

"2nd row, 3rd one back. It's perfect, that's it. That's the one." Blaine is dead certain, he's absolutely sure. Sebastian rubs his slightly sore arm from Blaine's uncalled for elbowing as he looks over to see the ring that got Blaine's attention. "Yeah I mean I'm not the one getting hitched to a flapjack so really it's not my decision." Sebastian once again insults Blaine's boyfriend. "That's rude." Sebastian just rolls his eyes and looks out to the busy mall at the Christmas shoppers zooming around. "Give me a twenty."

"Tramp stamps cost more than a twenty." Blaine insults back as Sebastian demands money. Sebastian plucks Blaine's wallet out of his back pocket before Blaine can even protest or reach for it back. Sebastian hurries out of the jeweler and quickly purchases a slushee to make his distraction plan work. He was going to insult Rachel to Blaine but then he noticed that Rachel was with Mercedes and Kurt and before they get caught he has to do something. He approaches them, hearing Kurt groan as he once again has to deal with his least favorite Warbler. "Oh my god we can't go anywhere. Literally you are everywhere." Kurt exclaims and Sebastian just smiles devilishly, "Then get the memo, stay home." He tosses the slushee on Kurt who freezes up as the red mixture slaps his face. "You know what Sebastian, I have had just enough of you. I'm sick and tired of-" Rachel starts to insult him as Mercedes helps Kurt dry the slushee off. "Wait wait Rabbi Rachel. I'm gonna let ya finish your piece but I have just one question. Am I supposed to address the royal family living in your unibrow or?" Rachel's hand flies up to her forehead, feeling to see if she really has a unibrow. "Alright horse teeth, this is how this is going to go down,"

"You're going to go find a hockey mask, or a really good plastic surgeon, fix your gay face and then we can talk." Sebastian barely let's Kurt get a word in before lighting into him, trying to keep the three graduates' attention on him as Blaine takes forever to buy one damn ring. He sees Blaine walking off and leaving out a back entrance. Kurt finally shoves Sebastian back, "You're nothing more than a self conscious ass. I don't like you, I don't like your smirky little meerkat face, I don't like your annoying CW haircut and I don't like how you treat my friends."

"Oh that's a shame. Lucky for me, your boyfriend doesn't feel the same way. He wasn't nearly as fun as I would've thought but still a good lay." Sebastian jokes about laying Blaine and he can tell that Kurt wants to punch him and probably Blaine. "Now, I'll let you get back to insulting the gay community. Have a nice night." Sebastian heads out, meeting Blaine by his car, straightening out his blazer from where Kurt shoved him and trying not to laugh. "Well I can't imagine the night you're going to have. You're welcome." Sebastian yells to Blaine over the wind before getting in his car and driving back home to Dalton. Blaine just chuckles as he tries to imagine what trouble Sebastian has gotten him in now. He gets about halfway home when his phone rings and he can tell that Kurt is pissed when he answers. "Heya what's up?"

"Oh you'll never guess what's up buddy." Kurt is angry and Blaine is trying not to laugh. This is the trouble Sebastian got him into. "What happened you okay?" Blaine tries to sound concerned without laughing. "Sebastard your buddy showed up at the mall today."

"And that's surprising? He lives in the area, I used to drive down to this mall all of the time when I was at Dalton. This mall has a GAP." Blaine makes the joke about his crush on the GAP employee that he managed to get fired. "Well apparently I never graduated from his flying slushees." Blaine laughs at the hatred in Kurt's voice. "Blaine this is not funny." Blaine actually does find it very funny. "Come over, I'm sure we can get you cleaned up." Blaine's tone is risky, hinting at something inappropriate. "I'll see what I can manage." Kurt's tone is just as seductive as he responds. Blaine pulls into his driveway, parking and heading in, hurriedly searching for somewhere to hide this ring where Kurt won't accidently find it and clearly that means his bedside table is off limits. "Blaine?" He panics as he hears Kurt let himself in. "You here?" Kurt asks aloud as he walks into the empty kitchen, jumping slightly when Blaine's arms wrap around him from behind and he plants a kiss on his neck by his ear. "Someone made good time." Blaine hints at Kurt's eagerness as he kisses him again.

"Sebastian said some interesting things today.." Kurt mentions, twisting away from Blaine's grasp as he hints at cheating. "You honestly think I cheated on you with him? Kurt I love you, and he means nothing to me. We're just friends, I promise you." Blaine reassures Kurt and grabs his hand. Kurt nods, understanding that everything Blaine is saying is true and that he's not a cheat. "He just really rubs me the wrong way, it's stupid to even think that you'd cheat. I'm sorry." Kurt stares at the ground as he apologizes. "Hey, hey it's fine, Sebastian has a talent of irritating you, don't let him get to you, that's what he wants and I still love you either way." Blaine kisses Kurt who just smiles and laughs. "Good because I love you too."


	26. Chapter 26

Mr. Shue meets Emma at the airport after a long time in DC arguing to keep music and arts in school programs. So far he's been making progress and most public schools are arguing back to keep the arts in their curriculum but McKinnley is still fighting with Sue to keep Glee and the musicals and art programs in it. "How's Glee going? I know that leaving Finn in charge was a good idea but I'm still nervous to see what they've done. I mean I know it's going to be different from what I would've done but I hope it's good."

"Guys Mr. Shue is going to be here in like ten minutes. This has to be good." Finn yells at the group as he panics, trying to get them ready to perform in a few minutes for their teacher. "Where's Blaine? We can't perform this without Blaine." Finn panics as he realizes that Blaine just skipped. "He was meeting someone earlier, had something to do with Sebastian. Whoever that is." Marley says as she struggles to fit into her dress. "Tina!" Marley rushes off to Tina to try and figure out why her dress once again is too tight and this time it isn't Kitty's fault. Finn gets angry at Blaine when his call goes through to Blaine's voicemail. He dials Kurt, not caring if he busts Blaine for hanging out with Sebastian. Finn waits for Kurt to answer, 'Come on Kurt come on. Please'

"What Finn?"

"Where the hell is Blaine?" Finn snaps, sick and tired of this game of round up the glee kids. It's a lot harder than he thought and he's realizing now that no one gave Mr. Shue the credit he deserved. "We're at his place why?"

"We need him for the performance tonight. It's hard to show Mr. Shue what we've done if he doesn't show." Kurt lets out an exasperated sigh as he tosses the phone to Blaine. "You rang." Blaine sounds unamused and clearly bothered by the fact that he's wasting his Friday night at school. "Get your ass over here."

"Can't we do Glee club performances during Glee?"

"Can't you have sex later?" Finn snaps back, shutting Blaine up. Before Finn can say anything else Blaine hangs up and hopefully leaves to get over to school. "Alright Blaine is on his way, hopefully. Nervous?" Marley nods, the only one brave enough to acknowledge her slight fear. Kitty is finishing make-up and Jake and Ryder are dancing around in the back, just running through the moves last minute as Blaine walks in, clearly pissed. "Is there a reason you feel the need to call my boyfriend every time you need something?" Blaine asks, the question is clearly addressed to Finn but their argument isn't private. "And we weren't having sex. Contrary to popular belief, we actually do other things."

"Well if you ever answered your phone I wouldn't have to call Kurt." Finn smarts back, "And I live with the guy so let's not act like you two do that much besides each other."

"I do answer my phone, just not when it's you." Blaine responds simply, rolling his eyes and refusing to further argue with Finn. Ryder and Marley laughing at his answer and Artie backing him up with 'Preach' as he rolls up. "Alright let's rock and roll this place."


	27. Chapter 27

Sam jumps on Blaine's back before the performance, startling him and almost taking him down. "Good to see you too." Blaine asks with hesitation. "Guess who's going to New York with you?! That's right bitches it's me. Your boy just booked a modeling gig with Bichette." Sam pronounces it 'bitchette' instead of the correct french pronunciation of Bichette. Blaine laughs as he pushes Sam off of his back, "Ok well if you walk in there and call it 'bitchette,' you're not going to have the gig for very long. It's french, there's no such thing as hard T's in the french language."

Sam shrugs it off, "who cares? I'm going to New York with you!"

Blaine bear hugs his best friend, "Oh my god that's amazing." Sam has wanted to become a model but he has never really had the chance. He had his shot as a stripper but now he can really go and become the male model he's wanted to be. "When you two are done making out over there, we're about to start." Kitty mocks them as she walks by to take her place on stage. Blaine just shakes his head and laughs as he claps his best friend on the back. "New York ain't ready for us."

"It's time to bring some real country white chocolate into that joint." Sam jokes before taking his spot in the routine and Blaine just laughs and shakes his head at his best friend as he takes a stand next to Marley. The opener goes great but the medley is a little rusty but they manage to pull through, Mrs. Pillsbury standing and clapping as the lights come on but Mr. Shue doesn't even clap. "He doesn't look pleased." Blaine whispers to Tina in between pants. "Definitely not happy." She mutters back as Mr. Shue sighs and stands up.

"Who wants to explain what the hell that was?" Mr. Shue yells as he walks up onto the stage. Finn takes the lead, trying to defend his thoughts and ideas. "Well the Warblers were really good at sectionals so if we ever want to beat them then we have to be just as good. It's a way to get the attention on us and yeah maybe it's a little risky but the Warblers did back flips, freaking back flipped on stage." Blaine nods and backs up Finn but it doesn't matter, Mr. Shue isn't going to allow that opener. "No. Flat out no discussion we're not doing that. We're a show choir, we are supposed to sing-"

"And we are. Finn is right, if we want to beat the Warblers then we need to show them up and so far a good Journey song isn't going to cut it." Blaine cuts in, only to receive a glare from Mr. Shue. "Blaine center stage, Artie diagonal behind him. No to the right," Mr. Shue starts lining up students to redo a new opener and Finn just sighs as he stands back by the doors. The club is now working on basic choreography, so caught up in what Mr. Shue is telling them to do that they haven't noticed that Finn has left. He checks into a local run down motel with more cockroaches than actual guests but it'll do. He doesn't want to go home, he can't right now. He lays back on the most likely dirty and broken bed, it squeaking as he shifts to propped up position, pulling the drugs out of his pocket. He was helping coach Beiste with locker checks after practice and he found that a few of the football stars are using, who, he can't tell for sure yet so he just hung on to it but now he's really wondering what it would be like to do it, even if it's just once. He pops one, then two, then soon the bottle is empty, the last one in his hand and with one final breath he says goodbye to the pills and his life.


	28. Chapter 28

Kurt is resting on Blaine's chest, watching the ending credits roll of the movie version of 'Mamma Mia!' they're watching and listening to the ever so soft snoring coming from his sleeping boyfriend. He chuckles slightly at how peaceful his younger boyfriend looks when he's sound asleep. Blaine always claims that he likes 'Mamma Mia!' but he's always asleep before the third musical number. Kurt knows that he suffers through it just because he knows it's one of Kurt's favorites. He sees his phone light up on the coffee table but he can't quite reach it without having to move and he's rather comfortable where he is. He knows that it's probably Rachel or maybe Santana needing someone to insult so she can feel better about herself. He stretches, reaching for his phone, almost dropping it but managing to grab it without waking Blaine or having to get up. The time on the cable box clearly states 1:14 so it's more than uncommon for his dad to be calling, that is unless he wants to chew him out for bucking over at Blaine's. "I'm safe okay, go to bed." Kurt grumbles, knowing that's one of his dad's main concern points for early morning dials. "Kurt, it's Finn. He's uh gone Kurt." His dad not only sounds tired but different, like he was when they lost Kurt's mom. Kurt on the other hand is too groggy to understand his dad's euphemism, "Well where'd he go?" Normally Burt would laugh at his son's innocent sense of humor but there's nothing to laugh about, not anymore. "Kurt he's dead." Kurt gasps and sits up, suddenly feeling like he's going to throw up and no longer caring not to wake Blaine. Burt is honest with Kurt, brutally so because there's no easy way to tell someone that once again they've lost a loved one. "I'll be home in a little while, I uh, I'll tell Rachel, and obviously Blaine."

"Kurt I don't think you should be driving right now. Maybe it's best that you stay at Blaine's for a little while." His dad knows how this can mess with a person and the last thing he wants is to have to spend his night in the hospital with Kurt. "Yeah." Kurt mutters before hanging up and gently shaking Blaine, trying to get him to wake up. "Blaine. Blaine please get up." Blaine groans, yawns and stretches, kicking the blanket off his bare chest to the floor. "What time is - Kurt what's wrong?" He sits up as soon as he sees the tears streaming down Kurt's face. Kurt can't even speak, he's bawling and hiccupping, crashing into Blaine and sobbing.

"Finn's dead." Blaine has never heard Kurt so quiet but he doesn't have to strain to understand what Kurt just mumbled through the tears.


	29. Chapter 29

Most of the graduates had just left earlier that day but now they're all flying back, no matter what they had planned or where they were going, everyone's coming back. ' **How do you accept a nineteen year old dying? How do you accept anyone dying? Short answer, you don't. I will miss him forever. Is there something we, I could've done? Afterall I was his brother, should I have known? But the cold, hard truth says that no one could've known. When something like this happens all that you can do is try to remain strong enough to be a survivor and to be weak enough to turn to those you still have left. Almost everyone came back, almost everyone except her.'**

Kurt walks into the living wearing a simple black tux. Not the kind that one would wear for Prom or a special event like a wedding, no the kind that no one ever wants to own but everyone does, the kind that belongs to death and only makes an appearance when death strikes. His dad and Carole are waiting for him, they have both been crying, everyone has. Before he came home he managed to get ahold of Rachel and Blaine called Sebastian, somehow knowing that that would be the quickest way to contact Santana. He left Blaine's around two and managed to get home in one piece by two fifteen. Both Carole and Burt were still awake, Carole crying while pacing the kitchen and Burt calmly sitting on the couch but Kurt knew by the look on his face that he was barely keeping it together. His dad told him the cause of death was drugs, an accidental OD. ' **People have been asking me how am I? Do I want to talk about it? How did he die? I'm not interested the one second in his life that he dide but more how he lived.'**

"Are you ready?" Burt asks, waking Kurt up from his grief.

"No," Kurt responds as he follows his dad and Carole to the family truck. The funeral is today, they wanted it that way, that's what they feel is best. He feels empty now, like there's no purpose in life without Finn. Without Finn he would be in that casket and Finn would be wearing a black suit. ' **Is it my fault? They say it's chemical, not just the drugs, but the drive to go that far. They say the truest cause of suicide is chemical, but they've also said so is love. How can two very different things have the same cause? He saved me, he did everything he could to help me and when he needed someone to hold onto I let go. This is my fault.'** Burt knows what his son is thinking, he knows that from the look on his face and the silence that Kurt is blaming himself. "It was not your fault. Ok? He made the choice all by himself. Kurt don't blame yourself." Burt bends his arm back to pant Kurt's knee but Kurt just pushes his hand away and cranks the air up in the backseat even though it's the middle of November.

"I should've known. I should've done something." Kurt finally says what he's thinking. "You didn't know, there's nothing that you could've done." Burt is trying to be as gentle as he can with Kurt. He knows that Kurt blames himself but he knows that he can't change Kurt's mind. "Well someone needs to start taking the blame! He's gone and you're acting like it's no big deal!" Kurt finally snaps, yelling at his dad and his dad yelling back until finally Carole has to tell them both to knock it off and stop fighting. "Sorry." Kurt mutters as he leans against the iced over back window and the silence is once again restored.


	30. Chapter 30

Santana sits in the passenger seat of Sebastian's mustang, too scared to get out and walk into the chapel. "Come on, you know that you don't want to skip this." He's standing in the first heavy snow in Lima, trying to coax her out of the car but she refuses and everytime he tries to grab her hand she screams at him and pulls back. She begged him to come with her to the funeral even though she knows how her friends will react later on. Blaine is the only one who knows about them so far, that is unless he told Kurt which so far he hasn't. He shudders as the snow builds up on his shoulders of his black tux. "Tana come on, you're going to be okay. I'll be with you the whole time." She allows him to cover her with his coat and guide her to the chapel, almost making it inside before she tugs him back. "Hey, hey you're ok." He kisses her forehead, pulling her close but she just screams and runs back to his car, leaving him standing there. He knows that this is hard for her, harder for her than him but he also knows that if she doesn't come she'll regret it for the rest of her life.


	31. Chapter 31

"Dude come on. We'll be late for the funeral, that's even worse than being late to a wedding, which we were." Jake points out as he flops back on the bed, stretching out while he waits. Jake had to sleep over at Ryder's last night because his mom had some work thing and she didn't want him home alone, even though he's a sophomore in high school. "How the hell does Blaine get this to work?" Ryder asks frustratedly as he yanks his fingers through his hair that's already hardening. "Leave the hair gel to Blaine and let's go. You can be the one to explain why we were late to a funeral. A funeral Ryder, can you please pick it the hell up?" Ryder has one last fight with his hair before announcing that he's ready. Jake springs off of the unmade bed and pushes Ryder out the door. "I'm driving because you're slower than old people on Sunday."

Ryder just rolls his eyes as he gets in the passenger side of Jake's old Mitsubishi. It's old, used to be a matte teal color but now it's mostly rust from Ohio's overuse of salt in the winter. "It's called safe driving Jake, some people actually drive the speed limit." Ryder and Jake argue about whether or not Jake's car is a 'rust bucket' the whole to the chapel. They run in late through a back door and meet with the others in Glee. Blaine is the only one not in the back but that's because he's with Kurt, which for once is understandable. The group is starting out the service with a version of 'Seasons of Love' from Rent and the graduates will join in. After their opening song, there's many heartfelt speeches, Carole barely managing to finish hers before totally breaking down, even Santana sang, a beautiful version of 'If I Die Young' but Kurt can't bring himself to speak or sing. He knows that Rachel will probably regret missing this but he's starting to think that she was right to miss it, it's all so much, too much and he can't handle it. After the service everyone is crying as they file out together. Kurt just sits there, tears streaming down his face. Blaine squeezes his knee gently, getting his attention. "You ok?" Blaine knows it's the dumbest question to ask, of course he's not okay but it's the only thing he can think of to say. Kurt grabs his hand, squeezing it, like he's afraid to let go of it. "I love you, thank you." Blaine gives him a sad smile and kisses him, tasting the saline of his tears. Although all of their friends have left a lot of Finn's relatives are still here, most of them older, like grandparents or aunts and uncles.

"This is a church, not a trailer park." Blaine backs away from Kurt as some old lady makes a comment about the two of them. "Can I help you?" Blaine challenges back, he knows that most people don't accept their relationship but this is the last thing that Kurt needs right now. Normally Blaine would brush it off, laugh about it with Kurt but he's not going to allow Kurt's step-family bully him for who he is. "How dare you come into a house of God and sin like that? You should be ashamed, I'm sure there's a doctor or shrink who could help you."

Blaine stands up, dropping Kurt's hand, standing in front of him in a protective manner. "He's not sick. If anything you're the one behind the times here." Burt notices the fight that's about to break out with Aunt Margery and Blaine so he quickly excuses himself from the conversation he's having with Carole and her parents to go step in. "Aunt Margery, pleasure to see you. You remember Kurt, this is Blaine-"

"His boyfriend." Blaine makes a point to emphasize 'boyfriend' and smirk. Burt holds back a smirk himself, he's got to hand it to the kid, he's proud of who he is and he's not afraid to stand up for Kurt. "Well Burt, I always knew there was something wrong with your son." Before Blaine can step in and say anything, Burt quickly changes the subject, walking Kurt's step-aunt over to other distant relatives. "Well that fun, why don't we blow this and go get food, or wasted but it might be too early in the day for that." Kurt cracks a smile at Blaine's joke as his boyfriend drapes his arm over his shoulders and leads them out to his car.


	32. Chapter 32

The car ride is silent. The only noise is the radio playing at a very low volume. Blaine smirks inwardly before slowly reaching over, gently resting his hand on his distracted boyfriend's upper thigh. He hears Kurt's sharp intake and Kurt's attention suddenly changes from his blank stare out the window to what Blaine's hand is doing. "Whatcha thinking about?" Blaine's tone is playful and his hand slides up closer to Kurt's waist. "Blaine." Kurt's first moan is a warning tone but soon he's just aimlessly moaning his boyfriend's name until he has to grab Blaine's hand. Kurt unbuckles his seatbelt and shifts closer to the center console and leans over, capturing Blaine's lip with his own. Blaine's eyes roll back then close as Kurt works down his neck. A rough nip to his neck shocks him, his eyes snapping open and he hears Kurt's low chuckle. "Eyes on the road." Blaine swears as he feels Kurt start to work his suit jacket off of his shoulders. Kurt pushes Blaine forward slightly, making it easier to yank the jacket off. Blaine shifts, accidently pressing down on the accelerator, the car speeding forward, hitting a patching of black ice. The car swerves in a sharp right and Blaine yanks the wheel to the left, over correcting and sending them sliding down the hill on the side. The car hits a tree, staying in an upright position, Blaine dangling from the driver's seat, unconscious from the impact. Kurt tries to move, his lower half trapped by the smashed in dash and he can feel the wetness of the snow on his arm. He sees Blaine's phone, only a little ways away from him, badly cracked but fortunately still functioning. He calls 911, being told to wait and stay on the line.


	33. Chapter 33

The car ride is silent. The only noise is the radio playing at a very low volume. Blaine smirks inwardly before slowly reaching over, gently resting his hand on his distracted boyfriend's upper thigh. He hears Kurt's sharp intake and Kurt's attention suddenly changes from his blank stare out the window to what Blaine's hand is doing. "Whatcha thinking about?" Blaine's tone is playful and his hand slides up closer to Kurt's waist. "Blaine." Kurt's first moan is a warning tone but soon he's just aimlessly moaning his boyfriend's name until he has to grab Blaine's hand. Kurt unbuckles his seatbelt and shifts closer to the center console and leans over, capturing Blaine's lip with his own. Blaine's eyes roll back then close as Kurt works down his neck. A rough nip to his neck shocks him, his eyes snapping open and he hears Kurt's low chuckle. "Eyes on the road." Blaine swears as he feels Kurt start to work his suit jacket off of his shoulders. Kurt pushes Blaine forward slightly, making it easier to yank the jacket off. Blaine shifts, accidently pressing down on the accelerator, the car speeding forward, hitting a patching of black ice. The car swerves in a sharp right and Blaine yanks the wheel to the left, over correcting and sending them sliding down the hill on the side. The car hits a tree, staying in an upright position, Blaine dangling from the driver's seat, unconscious from the impact. Kurt tries to move, his lower half trapped by the smashed in dash and he can feel the wetness of the snow on his arm. He sees Blaine's phone, only a little ways away from him, badly cracked but fortunately still functioning. He calls 911, being told to wait and stay on the line.


	34. Chapter 34

Rachel paces back and forth, debating in her head whether or not she should've gone to the funeral. She can't even believe that he's really gone, or the fact that they've called it an accident, or lethal polypharmacy intoxication as the technical term. She knows that's not true, Finn wasn't dumb enough to 'accidentally' die, if he died from something like drug use, then he knew what he was doing. He had it planned, he knew it was suicide. It's even harder for her, knowing that she broke it off. That she's the reason they weren't together. Even though they may not have been together at the time everyone knows that they were going to end up together, they were supposed to get married, they were endgame. Her phone rings, it's Kurt. The funeral service must've just ended and he wanted to fill her in and check up. She answers with a simple greeting, a somber tone, expecting her best friend to be crying. "Do I want to know why your phone contact is 'Mom'? Probably not, but right now I'm calling because I'm the heartless bitch of the group but Kurt is in the hospital with star boyfriend. Car accident. We haven't heard much yet but I don't think it's major, well the only thing really hurt is their pride."

Rachel frowns, a little confused by what Santana is trying to say. "What happened?"

"Well I guess they thought, 'hey we just left a funeral, let me lay you well you drive' and clearly that didn't end well for Lady Hummel and Gay Warbler or Gay boy Blaine's car." Rachel is surprised by how calm Santana is about this. Santana is now back to her snarky old self after crying on Sebastian's shoulder for almost an hour. Santana mocks Kurt and Blaine about the accident, Rachel not sure she needed the full detail description by Santana but she gets it anyways. "Well I appreciate the lovely image you just painted in my mind but I have to go, I have rehearsal for Funny Girl that I can not miss or I will get fired."

"Would be a blessing." Santana mutters before Rachel hangs up and grabs her coat, heading out of the apartment.


	35. Chapter 35

Santana returns to the private waiting room where all of her friends have gathered. It's silent in the room, there's two three-person couches and two more chairs all positioned around one wooden coffee table. Puck is sitting on the floor by the lamp with Quinn leaning against him, tracing shapes on his hand to distract herself. Ryder and Jake are leaning against the wall by Mr. Shue, Ryder texting, probably his catfish and Jake is the first one to say anything. "We have got to have the worst luck in the history of show choirs. We can't go a week without something terrible happening to someone in the club."

Mr. Shue just sets a hand on his shoulder, "They'll be okay."

Burt and Carole walk in, Carole looks like she's completely destroyed and Burt looks like he's barely able to hold it together. "How are they?" Tina asks, more worried about Blaine than Kurt but she cares about both. "Are they okay?" Sam gets up, grabbing his best friend by the shoulders, "Tina he's going to be okay. Trust me Blaine's too annoying to let a car accident take him out." Sam tries to crack a joke, so far the only one who's even been brave enough to try. This year Sam, Blaine and Tina have become the new Unholy Trinity, they're almost inseparable.

"Wonder how many people have hurled on this floor." Puck suddenly states, he's been silently pulling at the grey colored carpet. Ryder, who slid down to a sitting position, looks at Puck and then slowly stands back up. "There was a time when hospitals were used as bomb shelters and food banks because people didn't think a doctor was really needed. Now a hospital is almost like a church, or vet's office. One room is giving this world a new member while another is taking someone away from us. Isn't that messed up?" Quinn's voice is soft, almost angelic as she speaks. She shifts so she's sitting more upright instead of leaning against Puck. "It's pathetic, look at us, we all failed. All of us graduates at least. We all agreed, that no matter what happens, no matter how successful we become or if we fall flat on our face that we would come back here for our friends, for holidays and weekends but all we've managed to do is come back for two whole days when Finn begged us and then we all left, only to fly back the next day for a funeral. Finn's funeral and now his brother is in the hospital with Blaine." Quinn finishes her very well put together speech. Four years ago she was just a vain cheerleader with no real plans in life and now she's a scholar studying at Yale. It seems like everyone has changed since their first days at Glee club, and not necessarily all change is good.

"It's annoying isn't it? Those two literally can't do anything by themselves, they even go to the hospital together." Sam once again tries to crack a joke but the only response is Mercedes giving him a whispered warning to stop.

" _Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey hey hey,-"_

" _Goodbye."_

Sam starts humming, expecting to be told to shut up by Mercedes or Tina but instead Artie joins in and soon the whole room is humming and singing along. The song is from Finn's favorite movie, 'Remember the Titans' from the end when Gary passes away. They cut off when Kurt walks in. He looks weak but he's hurting more internally than any physical wound. Mercedes hugs him, she can tell that he's on the verge of tears. "Blaine's still unconscious. They don't know what's wrong with him, he's not responding to anything." She only squeezes him tighter before releasing him. "Kurt he's going to be okay. He's strong." Kurt nods, "Thanks for coming, you didn't have to." Kurt manages to sniffle back his tears and stay strong, even though he knows he's safe to cry in front of these people, they're his best friends. He leads them to the room where Blaine is, taking a seat in the chair he's pulled up next to Blaine's unconscious body. He holds onto Blaine's hand like an IV, afraid that if he lets go he'll lose him. His friends eventually file out, even Burt and Carole head home, leaving him alone in the hospital with Blaine. "Hey, I uh, I don't know if you can hear me but I love you." Kurt is rubbing circles on Blaine's bloody knuckles, he looks like he just got beat up at a fight club meeting. Kurt inwardly chuckles, the first opponent to beat the undefeated Dalton legend, a car, his car. "Come on Blaine, please wake up. God I can't believe this is happening. I wish you could hear me." He's just mumbling, talking out loud to his boyfriend is the only thing that is keeping him from actually breaking down. "He can hear you, he knows you're here." Rachel is standing in the doorway of the room, wearing a short pink dress with her hair curled. She walks up behind Kurt and hugs him, feeling her best friend shake in her arms as he cries on her shoulders. "In less than two days I've lost my brother and now him." Rachel gives him a sad smile as she sits on the edge of Blaine's bed. "Rachel he's all I have. I want to marry him, he's the only one for me. He's my best friend." Rachel grabs Kurt's hand, guiding over Blaine's chest and holding it down against Blaine's warm chest over his heart. "What do you feel?"

"Warmth, he's really warm, he always is when he sleeps." Kurt tries to smile but it's a pitiful attempt. "His heart is still beating Kurt. He's still fighting and he's going to get better." Rachel lets go of Kurt's hand but it doesn't move from Blaine's chest. Rachel scrolls through her phone, going through emails from her director. "You missed the service. It was nice, I wish you would've been there." Rachel looks up over her phone, shaking her head slightly. "I flew out when Santana called me about you but I'm not ready to say goodbye to him yet. I couldn't go to that service, it's sending him away and I can't do that, at least not yet." Kurt nods, he understands, he knows that funerals are supposed to be like a way to really gain the closure but that doesn't happen. He knows that it's not going to make the death any less painful or the fact that he's gone any less real, nothing but time can heal that scar and ten years later Kurt is still trying to heal from losing his mom. "How can you find out your child is in the hospital and not come to see them? I don't get it, how heartless do you have to be?" She asks as she looks Blaine up and down. Personally Kurt was wondering the same thing but he knows that Blaine doesn't like his family, he only just reconnected with Cooper last year. "There's no legal guardian or parental information in his file. Apparently he changed that when he transferred to Dalton. He had Wes's parents listed at first and then changed it last year to my dad and then finally took it off when he hit eighteen. He doesn't talk about his family. Bad memories is all I get when I ask." Kurt just explains it as 'Bad memories' but Rachel's pretty sure there's something else but she's not going to pry because it's none of her business.


	36. Chapter 36

"Alright guys, I know that it's hard and this weekend has brought nothing but bad news but it's a new week and in one more week we will be flying to LA for Nationals." It's Monday during lunch and no one wants to talk. It's been a very silent day for the Glee club and no one has heard anything about Blaine getting better. He still hasn't gotten better and hasn't woken up yet. "Come on guys, I know it's been hard and everyone's tired but we need to keep working. The Warblers aren't going to take the day off." Mr. Shue tries to get the club interested enough to at least work on the music but the only thing he manages to do is to get Sam to argue with him. "Well the Warblers didn't spend their weekend moving from a funeral to a hospital. They probably spent their night at some bar, probably gay maybe not."

"That's beside the point. The Warblers are good this year and so is everyone else in the competition and yes you all had a tough weekend we've all had a rough go at it but we have to keep working. We're not going to give up, Finn wouldn't want that."

"Maybe not but in case you haven't noticed our own Warbler is hanging onto life support and we don't even have enough people to perform." Sam snaps at Mr. Shue before storming out. Blaine and Sam did nothing but fight last year when he came back to McKinnley but now Blaine is his best friend and he can't handle losing him. Mr. Shue just lets Sam go, knowing he's not going to leave or get in trouble. He's probably going to head to the locker room or go lift weights, it's the way that Sam handles stress, by working on his body, which also seems to cause Sam a lot of stress.

"Blaine is going to get better guys and we are going to nail this competition at Nationals. People know us as the show choir that won it last year and we're going to win it again this year." Mr. Shue's pep talks used to psych everyone up but now it just seems like he's trying too hard and no one cares anymore.


	37. Chapter 37

"Kurt? Hey Kurt you still here?" Burt calls as he heads up the stairs to his son's room. Kurt has been spending all of his time at the hospital with Blaine, only coming home to eat and shower and occasionally sleep but even that seems unimportant now. Burt tries the handle on the closed door to find that it's also locked. "Hey kiddo why don't you open the door?"

"Why don't you go away?" Kurt snaps back but Burt hears him shuffle to get up. Normally Burt wouldn't take this kind of attitude from Kurt but he knows how much stress his son is under and the last thing he needs is a lecture from his dad about a bad attitude. Kurt looks like he just woke up even though it's past one in the afternoon. "What?"

"Morning to you too." Burt sits down on the edge of Kurt's unmade full sized bed. "Kurt what really happened with that crash? I've seen enough cars and cars from crashes to know that was not just a slight skid-out. Kurt, Blaine's still in the hospital so I suggest you tell me what really happened." Burt is more thinking drugs or alcohol were at play in the accident, he's not thinking that it's because of anything inappropriate. Kurt told the paramedics that it was just ice, they hit a patch of black ice and slid downhill and started to roll. Kurt isn't stupid, he too spends time at the shop and he knows that the lower to the ground the car is the more common for it to flip in this type of scenario, so he played that card, ice and low to the ground car. The police and paramedics went for it, more concerned on helping him and Blaine than wondering what actually caused the accident. "The police asked this question, and the paramedics and then you did, and now you want to ask again? How many times are you going to ask before you believe me?" Kurt gets defensive, refusing to admit what was really happening when they crashed. "I'm going to keep asking until you tell me the truth Kurt. Fine, there was ice, yes. Blaine has a low to the ground car, all Beamers are like that but I'm thinking more of what was he on? Or the under the influence of?" Kurt just looks at his dad and then scoffs and shakes his head. "Wow, one car accident and suddenly my boyfriend is a druggie alcoholic. Nice dad. I'll tell him you think so highly of him if he ever wakes up." Burt sighs as Kurt gets angry. "Kurt, sit down." Kurt just rolls his eyes, "I'd rather stand." Kurt has his hands on his hips and he's leaning up against the door. "Alright, this is going to piss you off, more than you already are. I want you and Blaine to take a break.-"

"Absolutely not. Preciate your opinion, which I did not ask for, but you can shut up now because I'm not going to break up with him." Kurt is snarky and flat out disrespectful, starting to walk out but stops when he hears his dad yell at him, like actual angry yelling. "Kurt that's enough. It's not up for discussion, sit down. You may not like I what I have to say but you are going to listen until I am finished. I am your father and I'm sick of just letting you slip through because I don't want to seem controlling or I don't want to interfere with your relationship but it's time that I step in." Kurt smirks as he sits down on the chair of his vanity. "And what makes you feel the need to step in?"

"I want you to be happy Kurt, and if that's with Blaine then I'm glad for that. Don't get me wrong, I think Blaine is a good enough kid but I'm worried that you two are too serious, that you are going to rush through life with the first person to show interest in you and I'm worried that when that happens you'll regret it. You've never had to live with him, you've never had to worry about running a house or having a family with him so yeah everything seems good in your life. It is, when it starts out, when you're in a phase of sex and dinner dates." Kurt suddenly gets less smart mouthy and more reserved, blushing when his dad brings up his sex life with Blaine. He knows that his dad knows that he's active with Blaine but still he'd rather not discuss it with him. "How am I going to know if I don't want to marry him if I break it off? I'm not going to know if I hate living with him, which I doubt is going to happen, if I don't actually try it?" When Kurt mentions marriage Burt freezes up. "Marriage? Kurt you're not even twenty. You've just barely made it into college and now you want to get married." Burt scoffs at the idea, trying to talk his son out of it. "Has Blaine mentioned it?"

Kurt shakes his head, "No, look I get where you're coming from and I appreciate the fact that you're looking out for me and I'm not saying I'm ready for marriage yet but I don't want to walk away from the best thing that's ever happened to me. Blaine is the best part of my life and I love him and he loves me. If there's one thing that I've learned from Finn dying is that time isn't a luxury we get, we come into this world alone and leave the same way but the time that we speed alive, as short or long that that might be, that time is when we really live and it's up to us to make our lives worth living, and I don't want to live mine without Blaine." With that Kurt gets up and grabs his coat from his bed and heads out, no doubt to go to the hospital to visit Blaine.


	38. Chapter 38

"You ok?" Sebastian asks as Santana finally emerges from the attached bathroom. He's laying out on his back on his bed, his blazer thrown across the empty mattress. He managed to finally get his roommate kicked out for drugs, it was a long process and a lot of signing papers but it was worth the payout of uninterrupted nights with his girlfriend.

"Fine," Is the only thing she mumbles as she crawls up the bed and lays down in his arms. "You feeling okay?" He asks as he rubs circles on her temple. She just mumbles incoherent sounds as a response. "Sebastian." She sits up, pushing his wandering hand off of her leg. He hums, letting her know that he's listening even though he's on the verge of falling asleep. She gets up, trying to keep her emotions in check. He feels her weight leave the bed and he opens his eyes and pushes himself up into a sitting position. "What's up?"

"I uh, I- there's something I need to tell you." She mutters and mumbles, her voice quiet as she tries to speak. He scoots to the edge of the bed, now interested in what has one of the strongest people he knows shook up.

"Hey, I'm sure whatever it is we can make it work. It can't be that bad." He grabs her hand and squeezes it lightly, only to have her pull away. "Tana I'm sure whatever it is we'll be fine."

'I remember that fight 2:30AM when everything was slipping right out of my hands.'

She freezes, panic flashing in her eyes and suddenly she feels like she's going to throw up all over again,

'I ran out crying.'

Santana doesn't even bother to grab her jacket or purse before turning and running out of his room. He gets up and calls after her, grabbing for his blazer off the bed before chasing her out into the hallway. He sees her run into Wes, shoving him to the side and heading out one of the back doors to the dorms into the winter storm that has turned more into just a heavy rain. Wes regains his footing, pushing himself off the wall just as Sebastian runs by and shoves him back into the wall.

'And you followed me out into the street.'

He chases her out into the dark, stopping under the light of one of the grounds lights. She's shaking but he knows it's not from the rain or freezing weather.

'Braced myself for the goodbye cause that's all I've ever known.'

Instead of yelling at her for her sudden mood swing, he grabs her hands, holding onto her, not caring about the pouring rain or Dalton's strict rules about sexual relationships.

'Then you took me by surprise, you said I'll never leave you alone'

"Santana you are the best thing that has happened to me. When we first met we did nothing but pretend to hate each other, only because we were too scared to admit that we actually had feelings for each other, well I'm not going to let that fear stop me anymore. I love you, so fucking much."

She leans against him, head resting on his shoulder, "I'm pregnant." She mutters, bracing herself for his warm embrace to disappear but it doesn't. It just gets tighter as he pulls her to him. "It's okay." He whispers and she can hear the shock in his voice. "We're going to be okay. It's okay." She doesn't ever want to let go of him. She's always been brave, not letting much scare her and she's never let her emotions show but with him she doesn't have to be so brave. It's okay for her to be scared out of her mind, she can cry in front of him and he's not going to shove her away, not like her parents would or her abuela has.

"HEY! Break it up!" A flashlight shines in Sebastian's face and he squints and backs away from Santana. He hands her his keys from the pocket of his Warbler jacket and gently pushes her towards the parking lot. "Go, I'll see you tomorrow." She nods and takes off at a light jog. The staff member that has the flashlight shined in his face is the german teacher. He's old, been here longer than the school itself and never hands out an A no matter how good the student is. Rumor has it he failed the german exchange student. "Can I help you Sir?" Sebastian yells back as he holds his hand up to block the light beam pointed at his eyes.

"Rules don't apply to the Warblers?" The teacher asks, shining the light down to see the Warbler emblem on the breast of his blazer. "No Sir, she was just stopping by. She's leaving." He's trying to be respectful to avoid a long night in the headmaster's office but at the same time he wants to punch this teacher in the teeth. He was just told that he's going to be a father and some german teacher with no life wants to yell at him for being out after curfew. "Report back to your dorm. This happens again and it will be reported."

"Thank you Sir." Sebastian bullshits an apology before turning and heading inside, rolling his eyes as soon as he's out of sight.


	39. Chapter 39

Kurt is curled up in the hard chair planted next to Blaine, asleep, snoring ever so slightly and every once in awhile shifting, to try and find a comfortable position in the chair when someone slaps his leg. "Wake up, Hey, Kurt!" Blaine swings for him again, just missing his leg but knocking his knee with his arm and knocking his legs off the chair, Kurt almost falling out of it. "Oh my god you're awake!" Kurt hugs him, completely awake now. Blaine shifts, trying to sit up, groaning in pain and having to have Kurt help him. "How long was I out?"

"Few days." Kurt grabs Blaine's hand, noticing the slight death grip that Blaine has. He then notices the tears in Blaine's eyes but it's not from the pain of the accident. He's a little sore, maybe stiff but this is about something else. "Kurt, I was with someone."

Blaine looks up at Kurt with his golden brown eyes, tears already sliding down his face but Kurt can't just forgive this. Blaine feels like a weight has been lifted off of his chest. He knows that he hurt Kurt but he feels like he can finally breath again. Kurt sits back, leaning against the chair for support as suddenly all of the oxygen in the room is gone. "It was Sebastian, wasn't it?" Kurt asks, hatred in his voice as he spits out Sebastian's name like it's poison on his tongue.

"No it wasn't him, but Kurt that doesn't matter. What matters is that I was lonely and I needed you and you weren't there. I love you Kurt, but I felt like you were moving on with your life and I wasn't part of it anymore. I thought that maybe we weren't meant to spend the rest of our lives together but right after, god right after I knew, that we were and I had blown it." Blaine keeps pausing, like he's hoping for Kurt to say something but he doesn't. "Kurt please say something."

Kurt isn't crying, he's not yelling, he's not saying anything which for Blaine is almost scarier. He doesn't know what Kurt is thinking, he doesn't know if he should try to apologize and beg again for forgiveness or duck and beg for Kurt not to beat him up.

"I don't know what you want me to say." Kurt states, his voice dripping with vicious tone. Kurt just shakes his head when Blaine tries to apologize. He pulls his hand away when Blaine reaches for it. "Please Kurt,"

"Look you've said you're sorry about a million times and I believe you but I'm not ready to forgive you, I'm not sure if I ever can." Blaine plants his feet on the ground, hissing in when he puts all of his weight on his stiff legs. He reaches for Kurt's hand again, "Kurt I'm willing to wa-"

"I'm glad you're okay, heal up quick the club really needs you." With that Kurt walks out.


	40. Chapter 40

Kurt drives straight to Rachel's not caring that it's almost four in the morning. He rings the doorbell, waits and then rings it again. "Ok! I'm coming!" He hears Rachel yell. Her dads are on a cruise somewhere in the tropics. She pulls the door open, sighing as she lets him in. "Kurt it's like late you know that right?" She then rubs the sleep out of her eyes and sees that her best friend is crying. She hugs him, feeling him shake as he sobs on her shoulder. "Is it Finn?" She asks, she knows the familiar feeling of a breakdown, she's been having them too. "Blaine. He cheated." Kurt manages to mumble in between sobs.

'Nobody said it was easy. It's such a shame for us to part. Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be this hard.'

"He just kept saying how sorry he was, and he meant it. You know the worst part?"

"That he was actually cute?" Rachel offers, trying to make Kurt laugh.

"I wanted to believe him, I want to forgive him and just crawl back to him but what does that say about me? What does that make me?" He's got a point, when Blaine apologized all Kurt wanted to do was to crawl up to him and hug him, say it's okay and kiss him but he knows that he can't do that. He knows the saying, 'does it once, shame on him, does it twice, shame on me.' He's not going to let Blaine define him, he's not going to let Blaine win. Kurt yawns, finally realizing how tired he is. Rachel suggests that he just stay over and take the couch for the night. He knows that his dad assumes that he's at the hospital with Blaine so he doesn't bother to shoot him a text. He just agrees and falls asleep as soon as he lays down.


	41. Chapter 41

"Alright guys the mash-up is ready and so are you! LA here we come!" The kids whoop and shout as Mr. Shue announces. They just ran the whole performance and it's flawless. Mr. Shue isn't letting them do the opener but the only thing missing is Blaine singing Piano Man for the medley. Due to the fact that he's still gone they just skipped over it in the rehearsal run through but they need to figure it out. Blaine's super against it because he's already stressing enough with his NYADA audition so he doesn't want the added pressure of having to sing it for Nationals too. Ryder is the one to bring it to Mr. Shue's attention. "Well if anyone listened to me we wouldn't be doing the song." Blaine jokes as he tosses his bag over in the corner with the others and hops on stage with the others. "Sorry I'm late, hospital nurses literally work at one speed." He claps his hands as he stands center stage. "Alright I'm back let's run the opener."

"No, take it easy you need the rest and I've already said, multiple times, we're not doing that opener for Nationals. It's too inappropriate. If you have a problem with my methods then we can discuss it afterwards, for now take your places we're going to run Piano Man."

Blaine sighs, he had this argument with Finn and he's going to argue it with Mr. Shue. "I'm not performing that song at Nationals, I'm not okay with it."

"Fine, Sam you'll sing it Brad will back you up. It won't be as we had planned but it'll still work." Mr. Shue finally just caves and takes Blaine off of the song all together.

"Woah ok that song is like Blaine's. It'd be like asking me to sing Teenage Dream. He's basically trademarked on that song." Blaine can't help but smirk, Sam's not wrong.

"I don't care who takes the lead as long as someone sings the damn song. Alright guys let's take a break tonight, call it good we can work more tomorrow. You guys are doing great so far and I don't want to push you too much. Alright be smart and don't get an any car wrecks tonight." Mr. Shue jokes as he dismisses them, people chuckling and looking at Blaine who blushes slightly. "So funny guys." He jokes back and heads out with Sam. "Movie night tonight?"

"Yeah we're heading over to Tina's though because my place is like a mess right now." Sam explains before heading out. Marley races after Blaine, calling him before he heads out into the winter weather. "Hey Blaine, do you have any free time to uh work on something with me? Like ten minutes? I've written a song that I'm actually really proud of but I like don't know how to play piano." Marley shrugs as she asks him to stay late with her.

"Well hopefully if I'm half a teacher you will be able to play by the end of this school year." He jokes as he heads to the choir room with her. "I know it's not my place and I might be overstepping but I think you should do Piano Man at Nationals. You have an amazing voice and you know how to play piano. Just saying." She does one of her nervous smiles as she speaks her mind. "I don't know. It's just no one is going to know if you miss a note or two in a Pink! Song or some other pop hit but this is one of the most iconic Billy Joel songs. Anyways you mentioned music and I'm totally interested."

She nervously offers him a piece of sheet music. "It's probably really bad. You're not allowed to judge." She quickly adds, already preparing herself for the dream shattering truth. "Barely Breathing. I'm intrigued."

'You really can't be serious, if you have to ask me why. I say goodbye, cause I am Barely Breathing and I can't find the air. Don't know who I'm kidding, imagining you care.'

He sings through it once and she's instantly in love. She didn't know that she wrote this for anyone but it's so obvious now that he's perfect for the song. "Marley this is amazing." She has a smile pasted on her face that she can't seem to wipe away. "You have an uncanny ability to write songs that describe my life." He mentions which is surprising to her, she thought he was in a pretty serious relationship with Kurt, or Finn's brother. She wrote this after Jake cheated on her and it's clearly supposed to be a sad song. "It's none of my business but I thought you were in a relationship. Did something happen?"

He gets up, pacing back and forth, running a hand through his gelled hair. "Uh, yeah, well I think so. I don't know if we're officially broken up. He won't talk to me, not that I really blame him." He doesn't ever open up about his relationship with his friends. Sebastian is the only one he really ever talks to about serious things, he hasn't even told Sam about him cheating but he knows that Marley's not going to tell anyone, she's been on the other side of his situation so at least she can relate. "I uh, I cheated on him." He scoffs as he admits it to her. She can tell that he's been beating himself up for it. "And you told him?"

"Yep. Thought that if I told him that he wouldn't be as mad or something. I don't know I guess in my head I just pictured that we'd get married and we'd spend our lives together and now he won't speak to me. God the look on his face when I told him, I couldn't decide if he was going to cry or beat me." She chuckles slightly when he looks over at her and smirks. Even after everything he's just told her he still somehow has a smile on his face. "I know that you went through the same thing only you were on the other end of it. Did he ever say why he did it?"

Marley scoffs, "Yeah, because I'm boring and I refuse to put out." She can't believe that he cheated on her with Bree but he had tried to get her to go for it with him and she stood her ground.

"There's nothing wrong with waiting for the right time with the right person. It doesn't make you pathetic or anything, if anything it just makes you strong enough to stand your ground."

He mentions as Marley gets down on herself. He knows that his reputation is different than his real love life. People think that he and Kurt were active at Dalton, and that he was the heartbreaker of the school. Not many people know that they waited so long but neither one regrets it. "I'm a sophomore in high school and I'm nothing more than a bad kisser. I'm going to be all alone my whole life because no one is going to want to date the prude girl." She sniffles and he realizes that she's crying after imagining every bad thing that could happen to her. He finally cups her face and kisses her. When he backs off she's no longer crying, she's just sitting there in shock. "You're not that bad of a kisser, and that's coming from the gay guy." She laughs as he jokes with her, "And any guy would be lucky to call you their girlfriend." He compliments her and she blushes. "Yeah maybe any guy who isn't looking for something."

"I was a junior my first time. Kurt and I waited because there's no point in rushing something. Don't worry about being in some stupid relationship. You should go to this Sadie Hawkins dance with a friend and have the time of your life." He encourages her to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance even though he knows he probably won't. He doesn't exactly have good memories of Sadie Hawkins dances. Female predominant dances and gay people don't mix very well. Last time he went to Sadie Hawkins dance he got beat into a bloody pulp, although in a way that was a good thing for him. He transferred to to Dalton because of that incident. "Are you going?" She asks, hoping he'll say yes to going but tell her he doesn't have a date yet. "Me? Probably not, I do not mix with Sadie Hawkins, trust me." He doesn't tell her the story about his last Sadie Hawkins, only Kurt and Tina know that story, which is probably why Tina hasn't asked him to go with her because she doesn't want to put him in a bad spot, or because she's moved on to Sam instead. Marley's slightly disappointed that he's not planning on going to the dance. "Well you said to go with a friend, some guy who's not looking for anything, and well that's you, you just described yourself. Why don't you come with me? Please, just as friends?" She offers, wanting to go with him but also pushing him to go his senior year, she doesn't know what's caused him to be against it but she wants to help him get over whatever happened. "I think it would be fun, don't get me wrong but I just think-"

"Blaine Warbler, will you be my date to the Sadie Hawkins dance?" She cuts him off and joking proposes and he can't resist the look on her face. If Kurt was here he'd be encouraging him to go, he would tell him to listen to his own advice, 'don't run and regret it, stand up and fight back. Courage.' Blaine smiles and nods, accepting her invitation.


	42. Chapter 42

Rachel tosses her coat over the back of the couch as she comes back from visiting the memorial that Sue set up for Finn. She's surprised when her best friend tosses the coat back at her. She had expected him to at least try to go talk with Blaine, or maybe go home but instead he's propped up on her couch in the living room watching random shows on Netflix while eating a carton of ice cream. "Come on, I have not seen you move since you got here. It's our last night in our hometown, let's go out. Party, do something stupid, after all we're college students, it's our job." Kurt doesn't say anything, he doesn't even look away from the tv. She grabs the remote from him, turning off the tv before grabbing his ice cream away from him. "Come on up, I am making you go out with me." She drags her best friend to his feet, convincing him to go out and party with her, which is exactly what they do. The party is great, that is until it gets busted by the cops. Rachel and Kurt stumble out into the parking lot, both hammered and laughing uncontrollably. "That was so awesome!" Rachel cheers as she leans against Kurt, relying on him to stay upright. "You drive I feel like I'm going to throw u-" Kurt bends over and throws up his way too many drinks. "Ugh I don't feel good." He moans before throwing up again. "Call your dad." Rachel says, already reaching for the phone in Kurt's back pocket. Sometime throughout the night she lost her phone. She dials the number that she's sure is Burt's, she recognizes it so it must be his. Kurt swipes the phone from her as the call goes through. "I would just like to start with this was her idea so you can't yell at me. Come pick us up dad please." He begs, clearly drunk. Rachel, still hanging on his shoulder, yells how much she loves Kurt's dad. "Just stay where you are, I'll come get you." Kurt is way too drunk to notice that it's not his dad on the other end of the line but his cheating ex-boyfriend. "It's cold."

Blaine just chuckles at how cute his boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, is when he's drunk. Kurt rarely drinks so it's always funny when he does get drunk. Kurt is so surprised when Blaine pulls up to get them. Blaine helps Rachel into the front seat passenger side before helping Kurt into the back, laying him down. "Lay down, come you're less likely to throw up that way." Blaine is pulled down on top of Kurt, who doesn't seem to remember that he's mad at Blaine. Kurt tries to kiss him, clinging to his ex. Blaine debates taking them to Rachel's but he knows they shouldn't be left alone drunk, it's too dangerous but he knows how much trouble they will be in if Blaine drops them at Kurt's, leaving his place as the only option. He lets Kurt have his bed and lays Rachel out on the longer of the two couches, taking a perch at one of the bar stools to monitor them until he drifts off to sleep.


	43. Chapter 43

Kurt is the first to wake, rolling over and seeing the clock on the side table. It's past nine and he can tell where he is, he's lost many hours of sleep in this very bed. The only thing missing from Blaine's room is Blaine. He's not entirely sure how he got here but the pounding headache hints that it had something to do with alcohol. He wanders into the kitchen that's attached to the living room and notices Rachel still asleep on the couch but Blaine nowhere to be found.

"Oh hey you're awake. There's food in the fridge, help yourself and excedrin in the cabinet above the coffee maker. You're probably going to need it." Blaine says, walking in from a shower. He's still wet, water clinging to his bare chest and dripping from his damp curls. The only thing he's wearing is a towel wrapped around his waist. Kurt begs himself not to react, he's still pissed at Blaine, even though he's incredibly sexy. They stare at each other before Blaine motions to his room, excusing himself to go get dressed. As soon as Blaine disappears, Kurt shakes Rachel awake. "Get up. Right now, get up." Rachel rolls over, off the couch, and groans. She gets up, stretching out before moving her hair out of her face. "Where are we?" She asks, looking around and admiring the house. It's nice, looks expensive. "Blaine's we need to get going before I accidently either stab him or jump him." Right now that's currently what Kurt's debating between. Rachel looks around, something in the kitchen catching her eye as the light hits it just right and it flashes. She walks towards it, gently shoving the espresso maker forward and picking up a ring box. "This must've cost a fortune. Oh my god" Rachel gasp as she flips open the box containing a ring clearly meant for Kurt. "Put it back before he comes back here." Kurt whisper yells at her but he's currently trying not to react. He's not sure what his reaction would be, anger; at Blaine for having the nerve to even consider marriage after cheating on him, happiness; because Blaine's considering marriage? Rachel hears Blaine approaching and panics. She grabs her handbag off the counter and shoves the ring box in it.

"Hey, how ya feeling?" Blaine asks as he comes completely put together, hair slicked back and emotions in check. "I'll drop you guys back off at your car." He says, obviously reading the silent signs that Kurt is sending him. Kurt makes Rachel ride in the front with Blaine because he doesn't want to. There's no chance of Blaine trying to grab his hand or rest his hand on his thigh if Kurt sits in the back. "So what's up with you? Anything new at McKinnley?" Rachel tries to use school gossip as an icebreaker. The silence in the car is killing her, but Blaine doesn't respond, he just reaches over and hits play on the cd player. The first song that comes on is Maroon 5's 'Misery,' a covered a cappella version. "Is this the Warblers?" She is almost sure that's Blaine as the lead. "Uh yeah, going away gift from the Warblers. We did this a long time ago." He explains but then goes back to his silent, reserved state. When they arrive Rachel thanks him for the bail out and then gets out, leaving Kurt alone in the car with him. Blaine turns around to apologize again, only to be cut off by Kurt. "Thanks, for the uh save last night."

"Can we please just talk please Kurt. I know that I screwed up and I'm so sorry but if you'd please just let me explain-"

"What are you going to tell me? That it wasn't serious? That you only made out? That you didn't care about him?"

"I didn't care." Blaine cuts in, trying to tell Kurt the truth but it's obvious he doesn't want to listen right now.

"Do you think any of that matters to me? Relationships are about trust and I don't trust you anymore." Kurt says, tears gathering but he refuses to cry, even though Blaine looks like he's going to. Kurt gets out, slamming the door without another word and walks away to Rachel's car. Blaine waits, watching as Kurt both literally and metaphorically walks out of his life.


	44. Chapter 44

"Wanna talk to me maybe?" Jake yells as he follows Marley down the hallways of McKinnley. "I told you, I don't want to go out with you. I don't want to talk to you so no, we are not going to the dance together. You moved on so you have no right to come after me now. I didn't cheat Jake, you did, go with Bree." Marley stops storming away and turns and lets him know exactly what she's thinking. Jake is pissed, actually pissed that she won't ask him to the dance. Sure Bree has and people expect them to go together but he's supposed to get the girl and the girl he wants is Marley. "So you're going to go alone because you're that pathetic?" He shouts at her, being more hurtful than he should but this all started because she wouldn't put out. "No Jake, I'm going with another guy, one who isn't pressuring me to sleep with him and isn't a cheat." She finally shouts back, although the part about him not being a cheat may be incorrect but Jake doesn't need to know that. Some guy in the crowd, that has gathered to watch this fight, laughs, his worst mistake. Jake turns around and slams him into the lockers and soon there's a hallway brawl until Jake is dragged to his feet by Mr. Shue and the fight is broken up by yelling teachers. Mr. Shue shoves Jake towards the office, following behind him. Jake plops down in one of the two chairs facing Sue at the principal desk and Mr. Shue leans against the glass door. "Younger Puck. I didn't like his brother William what is he doing here?" She looks up over her glasses and looks at Mr. Shue. "I want him in detention, three weeks after school." Mr. Shue states and Jake turns to yell at him. "That's jank! You can't do that, you need me for Nationals. I barely even touched the guy and he totally deserved it." Jake argues against Shue, which only pisses him off more. If there's anything he should've learned from the seniors is that you never challenge Mr. Shue in anything because there's a great chance you're not going to win the argument. "You're still going to LA but Jake, you can not walk around the halls hitting people, I don't care if you think they deserved it. It's not okay, never in any situation."

"Easy for the white Christian guy to say." Jake says, turning this into an issue about religion and race. Mr. Shue just sighs, Puck was like this too. "Jake, detention is the best thing that can happen to you right now. When Puck was here, just like you, he was just getting out of juvie. You have options, like him, you can spend months of your life in a prison for 'troubled' kids or you can figure it out now, grow up and stop acting with your fists. Three weeks detention, end of discussion." Mr. Shue walks out, his decision final and Jake sighs, grabbing his backpack and storming out of school.


	45. Chapter 45

Blaine meets Marley in the choir room during lunch to work on piano. Glee is down to just after school practices because the only thing they really need to work on is perfecting the choreography. "Heard I missed a good fight today in the halls." Blaine starts and she fills him in about how Jake was yelling at her, like it was somehow her fault. "The dance is this Saturday isn't it?" He asks, realizing that he's going to have to ditch because his audition is this weekend and he can't miss it, even though he really wants to. He's been trying to convince himself that NYADA is right for him, that he wants it but he still can't imagine himself enjoying his life at a drama school with a bunch of broadway wannabes who get excited when the snack machine runs out of gummy bears. "You can't make it." Marley states, knowing that's why he asked. "My audition for NYADA is this weekend, I'm flying out with Sam and we're spending our whole weekend in New York." He can tell that Marley is disappointed and he quickly adds that he's not that interested in going. "You have to go, you know that NYADA is the perfect school for you. It's want you want, you have your whole life planned out you just don't want to admit it." She argues back and he can't argue that she's wrong. He does have his life planned out, he knows what he wants. He wants to propose to Kurt and get married, live together in New York and make something of himself, even if that means suffocating through a few years of NYADA.


	46. Chapter 46

~END of SEASON 5~

Blaine walks into the loft with his friends after his showcase. Santana pops open a bottle of champagne as the others file in and sit around the living area of the loft. Kurt pulls his fiancé back out into the hallway, pinning him against the wall before kissing him. "You were so fucking amazing out there tonight. I'm so proud to be with you." Kurt mutters in between kisses. "I really hope so, I want you to be." Blaine responds in between kissing the man that he's going to marry in a few months. "When you two are done slobbering all over each other, we're all waiting to celebrate your victory so.." Santana, who was voted the heartless bitch, was sent out to interrupt their make-out session. All of the graduates from McKinnley are all crammed around in one small area, everyone is there except one person, Finn. It seems as if everyone has something to celebrate, Rachel and her new tv show, Sam, who's moving back to Lima because he's reached his dream but he can't stand New York and Mercedes is going on a tour. Everyone is going to scatter and tonight's their last night together. Blaine and Kurt are keeping the loft when everyone leaves. "High school seems so far away and for some of you it was less than three months ago. We were all so different then and now we're all best friends." Rachel says, only to have Santana insult her. "A lot can change, just think, our senior year Blaine and Kurt were inseparable and then Blaine's senior year and they literally didn't speak unless they were arguing about who cheated on who." Santana brings up, causing both of the young fiancés to blush. "Not only that but Warbler over here literally got away with cheating, got engaged and a full ride to NYADA in like a span of three weeks." Blaine blushes as he reaches for his beer on the table. "It was an interesting senior year." He states as the others laugh at him. "Or the fact that you almost blew off your audition for a dance." Rachel mentions, Blaine's only response is to turn an even darker shade of red. "Piano Man did you well." Sam chips in.

"Confession time, I didn't audition with that. I changed it last minute and did Cough Syrup." He'd never told anyone that. The last minute switch worked for him, it got him a full-ride scholarship for the school he'll be attending in a few weeks and a sponsorship from the woman who just hosted his showcase. "Well while we're on the topic of confession time, after we lost Nationals, Jake, Ryder and I went and egged Throat Explosion." Sam admits, Tina seems shocked and Blaine scolds his best friend. "Do you realize how much trouble we could've gotten in?" Blaine scolds, Sam's defense is to throw Blaine under the bus for drinking with the Warblers that night.

"Alright you know what? Everyone up, come on, come with me." Rachel leads the group as they charge through the streets of New York singing Pompeii. They end up in Times Square, laughing and hugging each other, "No matter what, no matter what happens in our relationships or how big, or small, we become, we all meet here in six months. Promise." Rachel puts her hand in the middle, soon joined by everyone else's hand. One last show circle.


	47. Chapter 47

~SEASON SIX after HURT LOCKER~

"How'd your audition go?" Kurt asks as Rachel sits down across from him in the McKinnley high teacher's lounge. "It went good, like really good. I think this could be my chance to get back onto Broadway." Rachel gushes, already deciding that she'd rather go right back to Broadway rather than NYADA. "Either way it shows the directors that Rachel Berry is a serious star and she's back in business. You made a mistake with the tv show, we've all made mistakes, we're young adults, it's our job." Kurt says and Rachel agrees with him. The show was a mistake and she shouldn't have done it. She knows that Kurt is thinking of breaking his engagement with Blaine as his mistake. That's the reason that Kurt came back, to try and win Blaine back, apologize and then confess his undying love for him but then he found out that Blaine moved on without him. "Come on, let's go we have to teach." Rachel says, getting up and walking off to the choir room with Kurt. Kurt pauses in the doorway, breath hitching as he notices his ex-fiancé at the piano playing the song that he sang before he proposed. As soon as Blaine notices them he stops, getting up from the piano and apologizing for barging in, which Rachel reassures him is fine. She hugs him, asking why he's here. "How's Warblers practice going?" He sighs, "Well it's going. There's a lot of fighting, seems like they can not figure out the idea of working as a team. I'm actually here to borrow your co-coach." Blaine says, walking over to Kurt, grabbing his hand and dragging him forward off the wall that he's leaning against. "I'm trying to convince the Warblers that duets aren't a bad thing and it's not exactly easy to do a duet by myself. I know that you're busy with the New Directions but I've already tried to reach David, no answer, and Wes is in LA now. Sebastian was willing to do it but there's some big thing with his tv show now so he can't get off of work." Blaine explains, feeling bad for putting Kurt in this position. Kurt wants to do it, but he knows that as soon as he sings with Blaine again he'll fall in love with him all over again and he's already barely holding it together. "I would but I can't. Who knows what kind of message that would send to these kids?" Blaine nods and holds his hands up to gesture that he understands. "Yeah yeah totally I get it, yeah no it's fine. Maybe I can get Trent or someone else, I might even ask Sam." Blaine gets silent, just staring at Kurt. It seems like every conversation now is incredibly awkward. "Uh how's recruiting going?" Blaine says, snapping out of his blank stare. He grabs his bag and blazer, getting ready to leave. "Good, just got Kitty back. It's shame that Sue transferred the rest of them out of McKinnley, we could really use some heavy hitters."

"Yeah they were pretty talented. Marley had one hell of a voice." Blaine says, just trying to make conversation with Rachel but he can hear Kurt making comments as he's sorting out music. Finally Blaine just calls him on it, turning his attention to him. "Why don't you just say it Kurt." Kurt's first response is to get defensive, challenging Blaine. "Say what Blaine?"

' _Maybe it is a contest, maybe that's the way it has to be with two guys but I'd much rather be running this race with rather than against you.'_ Kurt flashes back to the time he and Blaine got in a fight about their relationship, back when they had a relationship. "That the only reason you're here is because you want another chance? That you've hated Dave ever since I told you about our relationship? You are only here because you want me back, well some of us have moved on Kurt." Blaine finally yells at Kurt, Rachel now being the one to try and sink into the background silently as the two ex-lovers duke it out. Kurt knows he shouldn't argue with Blaine because Blaine is right. He changed his year three work study so he could be by Blaine, so he could win him back. "Or maybe Blaine, here's an idea, I don't like your new boyfriend because he threatened to kill me. He made my life a living hell for a year so yeah I wasn't exactly thrilled when you introduced us. This is my hometown, my friends and family live here so if anything I have more of a right to be here than you. I broke off the engagement remember? I moved on, so back off." Blaine just scoffs but doesn't retaliate. He just says goodbye to Rachel and heads out.

"Wow Kurt why don't you tell us how you're really feeling." Rachel jokes, until she realizes her best friend is on the verge of tears. "Kurt." She pulls him into a hug as he begins to sob. "He's right, Rachel everything he said is right. I still love him and there's nothing I can do to win him back. I've messed up my whole life. I panicked, with the wedding planning and I was pissed from school that day and I ruined my life. I want to marry him and have kids and spend the rest of my life with him." Kurt hates fighting with Blaine because he always seems to lose no matter what. "Maybe you two just need some time to be alone. He's not that serious with Dave anyways. You two are the perfect couple, you just need time to realize what you both want. Don't give up on him because he certainly hasn't given up on you." Rachel says, causing Kurt to back away and look at her, wiping his tears away. "What are you talking about, he left after I ruined our relationship."

"But he came here to ask you for help with something for the Warblers when I know for a fact that Sebastian is in town." Kurt is wondering how Rachel knows he's in town but he doesn't ask, he just smiles at the thought of him and Blaine at the altar, saying their vows and 'I Do's.

"Now pull yourself together because we have to teach." Rachel jokes. "What am I doing with my life? God to think I'd ever hear you say that to me, wow." Kurt jokes back as the bell rings.


	48. Chapter 48

~SEASON 4~

"Alright guys, Nationals! Who's packed up because we are hitting up the city of Angels!" Mr. Shue hypes up the class and they all cheer and whoop. It's after school on Friday before Nationals. They're all so excited for this weekend, first the Sadie Hawkins dance on Saturday night and then they fly out Sunday morning for LA. Mr. Shue argued for Monday off so the kids could enjoy some free time in LA. "Guys buses show up when?"  
"Nine on Sunday." They all respond in an irritated manner, he's been harping this for days now. "Good, do not show up late or hungover." He mentions, shooting Blaine a look with the last part. "Don't look at me, I'll be in New York." Blaine jokingly defends himself. His friends know that he's got quite the relationship with alcohol, but not in a way of a serious addiction, he just enjoys going out with friends. "Speaking of which, when are the two of you getting into LA?" Sam and Blaine are leaving tonight for New York and then they will fly out to LA from there. "Uh hopefully by about noon. I'm not totally sure on the timeframe yet." Blaine says and he can tell that Mr. Shue isn't pleased that he's going to be in New York at all. "We have a run through for 11:20 to noon and you're going to miss all of it."

"It's not like I can reschedule this audition. This is for my college. I'm not just going to New York for a hookup." Blaine's tone gets defensive as Mr. Shue attacks him for missing but completely lets Sam off and he's just coming for fun. "Nationals is the next day and we need you two both there." Mr. Shue states before Blaine walks out.


	49. Chapter 49

Marley sighs as she tries on yet another dress for the dance. Her, Kitty and Unique went shopping together after glee. Out of the three of them, Kitty is the only one going with a date, which is Artie. Kitty walks out of the changing rooms and spins, showing off the bubblegum pink dress that she's wearing. "Didn't you ask Jake to go with you? He would've said yes." Kitty says as Unique holds up two dresses, both her and Marley pointing to the one on the right. "Well I did ask someone but he can't make it so I just decided to go stag with friends. Jake doesn't deserve to be asked even though he's going with Bree." Marley rolls her eyes as she picks up a floor length purple dress which Kitty shakes her head at. "Isn't Tina going with Sam?" Unique asks, deciding on a dress. "Well I think she was going to but then he ditched to go to New York with Blaine." Marley adds as she struggles to get into a baby blue tight dress. Kitty hands her a jade green short dress that flares out at the waist and then shoves her into the dressing rooms again.

"Dude I had girls throwing themselves at me all week and now I can't even go." Sam complains as he bench presses weights. Jake and Ryder are doing arm curls, trying to out do each other while Blaine works over a punching bag. "Then stay here, trust me I don't think this weekend is going to be as fun as you seem to think." Blaine grunts in between swings.

"Dude and miss the Klaine reunion? You're crazy. Absolutely not." Jake and Ryder both sniffle back a laugh as the punching bag swings back and hits Blaine because he's too busy glaring at Sam. "I'm going to ignore that. Kurt and I are not getting back together." Blaine mutters before turning his attention back to the punching bag. "Come on, the dance would've been fun." Sam presses. "Yup, one hell of a night." Blaine sarcastically remarks, clearly focussed on fighting, "Had a date and everything." Both Ryder and Jake are shocked. Neither one is excited about the dance. Jake is going with Bree and Ryder is going with some other cheerleader. He was hoping that Marley would ask him but she never did so he said yes to some cheerleader.

"Wait," Jake starts, Ryder following with, "Who?"

Blaine has his back to them so they can't see the smirk spreading across his face. "Just a friend. Feel kinda bad, she seemed really excited." Blaine states, not telling them who 'she' is.

"Hold up," Ryder starts this time, having Jake follow up with, "Who?"

"Oh, uh Marley, she asked about a week ago. If I didn't have this audition I'd totally go with her." Blaine holds his hand out, stilling the swinging bag before pulling the velcro back and taking off the boxing gloves and unwrapping the tape on his hands. Blaine punches Sam in the leg on his way by. "I'll pick you up in about two hours," Blaine volunteered to drive to the airport because it's about fifteen minutes away from Dalton and he knows the fastest back roads. After Blaine heads out Sam does too, heading home to shower up and pack. He's known about going to New York with Blaine for a while now but he still didn't bother to pack, waiting until last minute like everything else he does in his life. After both of the seniors clear out Ryder asks Jake if he's going to ask Marley to dance at the Sadie Hawkins. "Doubt it. I have a date and I've moved on. Are you?" Jake asks back, trying to act disinterested. Ryder did want he promised Jake, back off of Marley while they were in a relationship but then Jake cheated on her and broke her heart so now it's Ryder's turn. "I'll probably ask to dance." Jake just nods, brushing it off that his best friend is moving in on the girl that should be his. "Cool."

"Are you excited for LA? I mean I know that you've been there with Puck before but are you excited for Nationals?" Ryder asks, changing the subject for Jake. "It's warm. I'm excited for the warm weather."

"I'm so excited to try surfing." Ryder says, only to be made fun of by Jake. "Oh please, you don't have the balance to go surfing. You'll just hurt yourself."

Ryder doesn't have the finesse that Jake does but he has the drive to beat Jake.


	50. Chapter 50

"Ok, move the table over to the left." Kurt instructs his two roommates to move the coffee table while he stands back with his hand on his hip. "No, not your left, my left." He tells them as he motions for them to move it the other way. "It's the same left Lady Hummel." Santana smarts back, dropping her side of the table, leaving Rachel to struggle with the table. "Blaine is not going to care if the table has been moved to the right or left. For crying out loud, you could throw it out the window and he wouldn't care. He'll probably be too busy imagining laying you on the couch." Santana does one of her rants on Kurt, who argues back, refusing to believe that he's cleaning for his ex-boyfriend. "It's called cleaning Santana, some people do it more than once in their lifetime."

"It's called pathetic Kurt, that's what you are." Santana pulls her coat on and grabs her packed suitcase. "Well I'm out to go run through some farmer's fields without their consent." She announces before leaving. She's spending the weekend in Iowa filming for Yeast-I-Stat. After she leaves Rachel backs away from the now clearly off centered table and asks Kurt if he's talked to Blaine yet. Kurt's response is to deflect the question. "Has he mentioned the ring or anything to you?" Kurt knows that Rachel brought it back with her but she doesn't know what to do with it. "I feel bad just taking it. It's obvious that he spent a lot of money on it. He really loves you, you know."

"Just don't mention the ring to him, he probably forgot about it by now." Kurt doesn't address the part about Blaine loving him, he's not ready to accept that Blaine still cares about him and he still cares about Blaine. Rachel nods, agreeing with him although she doubts that Blaine would just forgot something that special. "Now come along, Fanny Brice is a working girl and so am I." Rachel and Kurt both requested this weekend off at the Diner because their friends would be in town so tonight they both have to work, even though neither one really wants to spend their Friday night working at the Spotlight Diner.


	51. Chapter 51

~Movin' Out~

Blaine smiles as he runs up the subway stairs, two at a time, and stops at the top, waiting for his best friend. It's cold in New York, he can see his breath in front of his face but he's too excited to be in New York to care. "Oh come on, light a fire." Blaine urges as he drags Sam along, looking down at his map instead of the group of people he's about to run into. "I can't feel my left buttcheek." Sam complains as they keep walking because Blaine insisted on sightseeing instead of taking a heated bus or the subway to Bushwick. "You don't need to be able to feel your ass, it's probably from doing nothing but sitting on it for so long." Blaine responds, still dragging Sam along. "Have you even told them we're in town?"

"They know we're coming, it'll be a surprise." Blaine and Sam drove to Westerville last night and flew out to a small airport in Buffalo. They had a connector flight to New York City area but it was late so they decided to take a subway all the way to New York City so they're currently about three hours later than they planned and slightly sleep deprived from traveling all night but it's worth it for Blaine. "Just think, in less than a year, we'll be living here. All of us together." Sam just rubs his hands together, trying to warm up as Blaine starts up the stairs to the apartment, urging Sam to move faster. "Can you at least try at act excited and hurry up?"

Sam just rolls his eyes at Blaine pulls the door open to the apartment. Rachel is the one who greets them, hugging Sam and then Blaine. "Where is everyone?" Blaine asks, ignoring Sam's insinuating elbow. "Kurt's at practice for Adam's Apples, which I told him not to do, and Santana flew out yesterday for a commercial that she's doing." Blaine just nods, a look on his face that silently tells the truth that he refuses to admit. He expected to come here, be at New York with Kurt and talk things out, confess his undying love for him and get back together.

"You guys excited for Nationals?" Rachel asks, starting a rather poignant conversation that consists of just her and Sam. "What about your NYADA audition? You think you're ready?"

Blaine hears her speak but he doesn't process what she's saying or that she's talking to him. He's been taking in every inch of the apartment, all decorated with flea market furniture that Kurt clearly picked out. When Sam elbows him he wakes from his trace of inattentiveness, and jumps. He rubs his arm as he turns his attention back to Rachel. "Sorry you were saying?"

"Your audition? What are you doing? Are you ready?"

' _Yeah, ready to intentionally bomb this audition, choose not to go to college and call it good.'_

"Yeah I think I'm ready. I feel like if I spend anymore time practicing I'm actually going to go insane. I am never going to be able to listen to 'Piano Man' again." He quips, still zoning in and out. He slings his bag off his back and drops it in the corner. "I uh, I think I'm going to go explore the city a little. I'll be back later." Sam just nods before plopping down on the couch, Rachel calling him over to the kitchen. "Blaine uh, this is yours. I may have accidently stole it." Rachel offers the ring box to him, studying his face for some kind of hint as to what he's thinking but his emotions don't show through, he's too good at hiding them. "Thanks, I appreciate how you snoop through my things and manage to steal the one thing that isn't mine." He certainly isn't going to explain how he was going to ask the Warblers to help him propose to Kurt so he just lies and says that it's someone else's. "Wait it's not-"

He cocks an eyebrow and shoots her a cynical look. "No, it's not for Kurt. I wasn't going to propose, not anytime in the near future."

"Oh," Both she and Kurt had assumed that Blaine was thinking of marriage and now she feels even worse for encouraging Kurt to pursue the relationship.

"It's Seb's, he's in a rather serious relationship and he asked me to keep it because of Dalton's random room checks now and his girlfriend spends a lot of nights with him so it was just easier if I held onto it." Blaine pockets the ring box after checking to make sure the ring is still secure in it's cushioned home before heading out. He figured he'd go explore the campus of NYADA and maybe play around a little on their pianos, one last chance to run through his audition song.


	52. Chapter 52

Kurt grabs the last of his things before heading out of practice for Adam's Apples. He walks through the mostly dark hallways until he hears music coming from one of the many practice rooms by Ms. July's classroom. It's clearly a very experienced piano player, maybe an upperclassmen, and then he hears a voice that he would recognize anywhere. He stands in the doorway, watching his ex perform John Legend's 'All of Me.' Blaine smiles as he notices Kurt, finishing the song early, completely skipping the final verse. "You sounded great. Like always, huge shocker." Kurt praises, slowly walking into the room. Blaine is nervous to speak so he starts off with something easy, "It's good to see you." He offers a weak smile, Kurt nodding and responding with 'you too.'

"Kurt I'm so sorry." Kurt just nods, "I know. You've said it a million times and I want to believe you. I want to be able to forgive you so I can move forward in my life but I'm not there yet. I think it's so much harder because no matter how mad I should be at you, you're still my best friend and I still love you." Kurt finally admits, Blaine nodding and trying to wipe away the tears streaming down his face. "And I love you too."

"I don't want to lose you Blaine." Blaine sighs as he hears Kurt whisper that. Kurt finally gives into his emotion, hugging his ex-boyfriend. Blaine separates himself from Kurt, sighing as he kneels down on one knee and presents a ring to Kurt. "This is not at all what I had planned but Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, I know that I've messed up and I will work to win back your trust and your heart but I'm not just begging for your forgiveness now. When we first met, I took your hand and we ran through that back hallway in Dalton. Now I don't usually make a habit of taking people's hands that I've never met before but I think that my soul knew something that my mind and body didn't know yet. It knew that our hands were meant to hold each others, fearlessly and forever, which is why it's never really felt like I've been getting to know you, it's always felt like I was remembering you from something. As if every lifetime you and I have lived, we've chosen to come back and find each other and fall in love all over again, over and over for all eternity. And I just feel so lucky that I found you so soon in this lifetime because all I want to do, all I've ever wanted to do is spend my life loving you. So Kurt Hummel, my amazing friend, my one true love, will you marry me?" Kurt gasps, his hand flying to his mouth as he tries to process exactly what is happening. Kurt is crying and shaking, and when he realizes that Blaine is silently staring at him he nods. "Yes. Yeah, yeah." Kurt is shaking his head yes as he tries to calm down and not cry. He pulls Blaine up to his feet and kisses him. Blaine chuckles as he slides the ring on Kurt's finger muttering 'I love you' to his now fiancé. "I want to tell my dad first." Kurt mumbles before Blaine's lips connect to his again. Blaine's hand coming up to cup his fiancé's jawline as the other hand wanders through his hair. Blaine doesn't care who and when they tell others, he just wants to be with Kurt, forever and ever. Kurt groans when his phone rings. "I swear if it's Sam.." Kurt rolls his eyes as he hold his phone up. "Even better, Rachel." Blaine silently laughs as Kurt answers with a very satirical tone. "Yeah, sure I could meet you there. I just finished practice. I know that you're literally trying to set me up but I will humor you." He hangs up and grabs Blaine's hand, his fitting in it perfectly. "Rachel just suggested the Spotlight Diner for late night drinks. I told her I'd call you, she's trying to set us up." They walk to the diner together, it's dark already and the walk is only a few blocks. Kurt can't help but play with the ring on his hand. They stop outside of the diner, kissing one last time before they have to go back to pretending to still be upset and in a fight. Kurt slides his ring off, his finger feeling like it's missing something and he notices Blaine do the same. "I love you."

"Central Park afterwards?" Kurt suggests, Blaine agreeing. Kurt walks in first, seeing Rachel in her uniform, serving some older couple drinks and Sam at a booth alone. Blaine walks in later, joining Sam at the table. Kurt is sitting across from Sam and Blaine on the other booth when Rachel walks up. "I thought we had the night off."

"We did, until Dani and Greg both ditched so suit up." Rachel tosses him an apron, Sam laughing as Kurt lets out a frustrated groan. Blaine whispers to him as he gets up. "You look cute, and I mean dirty cute." Luckily Sam is too busy joking with Rachel to notice the two loverboys back at it again. "Hey Rach, hit me up with beer will ya?" Kurt is already busy waiting tables and Rachel sighs as her friends make her work more. "You get up there and run through your audition song and if it's NYADA quality you can have one, free of charge." Blaine fake pouts as she motions towards the stage and holds his drink hostage. "Fine, one song and I get my beer." Blaine makes his way up to the stage with the baby grand piano. People who come to the Spotlight Diner on Friday's, Saturday's and Sunday's expect NYADA students to perform and they usually tip pretty generously. "Uh hi everybody. My name is Blaine and I'm auditioning for NYADA so I thought why not run through it here. This is my version of Billy Joel's 'Piano Man.' Thanks for having me." The crowd cheers, everyone loves this song. Sam joins in with his harmonica and the crowd loves Blaine's song and his voice, calling for another song. Rachel shoves him back towards the stage, introducing him with another song. "Uh this is for you Kurt."

'You make me feel like I'm livin' a Teenage Dream. The way you turn me on.'

This song is slow and meaningful. It's new to everyone, no one knows that he's been working on a kinder, gentler approach to this song.

"He's in love with you." Rachel nudges Kurt as he walks up to grab another order to deliver. "So much that he cheated." Kurt responds before taking off to deliver the order of food.

'I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin tight jeans, be your Teenage Dream tonight.'

"Maybe you two should sing together, the crowd loves duets and you guys were a power couple in Glee." Rachel suggests, another way to set them up, only she doesn't know that she's wasting her time. "Rachel, it's over. Let it go." Kurt states, grabbing a tray and rag to go clear tables. Rachel just mumbles 'okay' as he walks off but heads to the stage. "So you guys all love Blaine?" She waits as the crowd claps and hollers before continuing. "Well Blaine here, is very good friends with our very own Kurt so how about a bit of a duet?" The crowd claps and soon there's a chant of 'duet' until Kurt caves and walks up onto stage. They do a duet of 'Just Can't Get Enough' and when they finish Blaine excuses himself, wanting to just relax and sit. Before Blaine heads back to the table where Sam is, he veers in the direction of the restrooms. Kurt makes an excuse about something he needs from the store room and waits for Blaine in the darken, slightly quieter hallway. "You sounded great." Kurt's tone is that causal tone that he knows always gets Blaine going. Blaine glances behind them to see if they're alone before pinning Kurt to the wall and working a spot at his neck. "God I love you." Kurt finally fights back for dominance, winning and moving down Blaine's neck. Blaine throws his head back as he tries to bite back a groan as Kurt finds his sweet spot on his neck. "Kurt." Blaine mumbles his name over and over again, trying to warn Kurt that if he continues Blaine won't be able to stop.

"Oh who called it? Yeah this guy. I so knew it." Blaine spins around, releasing his grip on Kurt's arms. Blaine is flushed, his face as red as the bow tie he's wearing and Kurt is trying to argue out of it. "It's not like that. We're just friends."

"Bros helping Bros." Blaine adds, trying to get Sam to wipe the smirk off of his face. Sam just nods, Kurt awkwardly sliding past him to go back to work. "Sam keep your mouth shut. This is no different than the time you and Tina decided to make-out on my couch."

"Mhmm, same idea." Blaine can tell that Sam is mocking him. "I won't have to tell anyone, that hickey says it all." Blaine's hand flies up to his neck where Kurt was sucking and nipping. "Is it that obvious?" Blaine is genuinely worried about it being obvious when they fly out to LA.

"No, it just looks like someone had a fun time in New York." Blaine punches Sam as he tries to use his shirt collar to cover the mark.

"So are you two back together?" Sam questions, not joking for once.

"Nope." Blaine responds as he grabs his beer.  
"You're not just going to sleep with him and leave are you? That's like douchier than cheating on him." Blaine is starting to regret telling Sam about cheating on Kurt. He mentioned it on the flight out when Sam finally asked what had happened between the two of them. Rachel and Kurt walk up, joining them at the table now that they're officially off shift. "It's getting late and I have rehearsal tomorrow so I'm probably going to head back. I'll see you guys back at the apartment." Rachel says, Sam quickly adding that he'll walk to the apartment with her. Kurt scoffs and shakes his head as his friends try to set him up. "Someone should tell her it's a wasted effort." Blaine murmurs as they watch the two leave. Blaine and Kurt head out together, taking a detour through Central Park. Now they both have their rings on and the feel of the cool metal band on Kurt's finger as they hold hands makes Blaine smile inwardly. "What do you think Burt's response will be to this?" Blaine asks, happy they're finally alone and they don't have to pretend to be angry with each other. "I'm hoping he'll be as happy as I am but I doubt I'm that lucky."

Three weeks ago Blaine asked Burt to meet him in the auditorium after Glee club one day. This was before the cheating, and car crash, and the break-up and he didn't get the answer he was hoping for from Burt.

" _Hey, you said you wanted to talk?" Burt asks as he approaches the high school senior who's got his back to him. Blaine snaps shut the small box in his hand and slides it back into his pocket before turning to face Burt. "Yeah, I uh, I wanted to give you this." Blaine offers the box to Burt, who flips it open, looking at the rainbow pin inside. "I figured you could wear it to show your support for gay marriage." Blaine explains at Burt's confused look. "Yeah, that's a priority of mine, a not very supported idea currently." Burt closes the box and thanks Blaine. "I also wanted to talk to you, or ask you about something." Blaine is more nervous than Burt's ever seen him and he's slightly concerned of why. "I wanted to ask you for your permission to ask for Kurt's hand in marriage." Blaine is beaming, a look of confidence on his face. He's run through this meeting many times in his head and in all of his imaginations, Burt always say yes. "Are you kidding or are you nuts?" Blaine's smile quickly diminishes as Burt's first response isn't yes. "Kurt is my soul mate and I want to spend the rest of my life with him." Blaine states, Burt facing him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Blaine. It means a lot to me that you love Kurt and that you've been like family to me-"_

" _So you're saying that you're okay with me asking for his hand?" Blaine's smile is spreading across his face again, Burt shaking his head, "Oh of course not, no. You're still kids, did you learn anything from Finn and Rachel?" Burt is almost laughing, Blaine, on the other hand not seeing what's funny as he tries to defend his point. "They are completely different." Burt just gives him a look that hints, 'Are they really?'_

" _I don't think you understand how it feels to finally, legally get married-"_

" _And you don't really get what it means to be married. Straight, gay, whatever, it's not the same as living together. Blaine, listen. Let's sit down together for a second." Burt grabs a stool and sits down on it by the amp that Blaine sits on. "Look, I can't tell you why but something happens when you exchange vows. It's a big deal." Blaine is nodding, no smile on his face anymore as Burt lectures him. "It's why divorce is so much harder than breaking up. It's just there's a really big difference between marrying a person and marrying an idea."_

 _Blaine looks up finally, a crushed look on his face but he's not done fighting. "What if you don't meet someone else?"_

 _Burt answers back with another question. "Do you think you two were meant to be?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Do you think you two have a true love?"_

" _Yes!"_

" _Then stop worrying." Burt tells him. Blaine doesn't say anything else. Burt finally getting up, "I have to go, thanks for the pin." Blaine looks up and nods, "Yeah."_

 _Burt gives him a sad smile and grabs his shoulder. "Hey, everything is going to be okay." Blaine just shakes his head as Burt walks away. "How do you know that though?" He asks before Burt leaves. Burt sighs and turns around. "When two people love each other, like you two do. Everything works out." With that Burt walks off, leaving Blaine alone in the auditorium. Blaine lets out a defeated sigh, shaking his head in frustration._

Blaine knows that Burt won't be happy about this, Burt doesn't like Blaine's fast paced lifestyle but he doesn't care. Three weeks ago Blaine was sitting on an amp begging Burt for permission to marry Kurt. Two weeks ago Blaine was down on two knees begging for Kurt's forgiveness and this week he was kneeling on one knee asking Kurt to marry him. "You're dad is widely unpopular with his colleagues because he's fighting for gay rights. He's going to support us."

Blaine and Kurt are walking hand in hand down a trail until Kurt stops and pulls his fiancé to him. "Even if he's upset, it's not going to change my decision. Blaine I love you and we are going to get married."

Blaine nods, a satisfied look on his face. "Yes, we are going to get married. I love you so much." They kiss and then stand there, foreheads touching. They can see each other's breaths in the cold air until finally Kurt mumbles that they should head back, even though neither one wants to. "Rachel will send a search party." Blaine chuckles as he allows Kurt to drag him back towards the apartment.


	53. Chapter 53

"Was on the verge of sending a search party." Rachel satirizes, not shifting from her cuddled spot on Sam. Blaine motions to the two of them cuddling on the couch as he hangs him coat up. "You seem cozy." Rachel yawns and gets up off of Sam. "What are we doing for sleeping arrangements?" Rachel asks, Sam dibbing the couch. "I'll just take the floor out here. I'm fine." Blaine offers, hearing Kurt scoff behind him. "We've slept together before I think we can manage a few nights without killing each other."

Sam is making faces at Blaine, who just shake his head at his best friend. "Should I like get music, or noise cancelling headphones?" He asks as the couple disappears behind the privacy curtain. Rachel laughs, "Headphones won't help much but." She laughs as she hears Kurt yell for the both of them to shut up.

"So you two really are broken up." Sam comments the next morning at breakfast. "And you just realized that?" Blaine questions, raising an eyebrow and wondering how his best friend is somehow going to manage an inappropriate joke out of this vague statement. "Well I mean I was bracing myself for a busy night if you get my-" Sam cuts off as Blaine kicks him in the shin underneath the table. "Ow," Sam complains as he reaches down to rub his throbbing shin. "I was just saying."

Blaine shoots him a glare. "Just don't," Blaine smarts back, doing a devilish half smirk. Rachel chuckles as she grabs a single piece of toast. "It's going to be so great when you two move in." The dynamic of the apartment now is rather mellow except for the occasional fight between Santana and Rachel but when Blaine and Sam move in she can tell that they'll bring some good entertainment. "It'll also be packed. We either need more beds or less people." Kurt mentions, his tone slightly bitter. "I'm willing to bet it'll also be loud." Sam smirks, successfully dodging Blaine's attempt to kick him again. "I should get going or I am going to miss my own audition." Blaine announces, pushing away from the table and heading to the bathroom to go shower.


	54. Chapter 54

Blaine walks into a NYADA classroom, Ms. July's and sees a table set up with three very important looking people. He knows who they all are, the one in the middle is Madame Tibideaux and to her left is Cassandra July and on the right is June Dolloway, a socialite who is known for developing some of the best up and coming artists. He had planned on doing Billy Joel's 'Piano Man' but it doesn't feel right. He changes his mind last minute, performing 'Cough Syrup' and getting a standing ovation from Madame Tibideaux and June but Cassandra looks unimpressed.

"Mr. Anderson, you are what NYADA is looking for. You have the talent that it takes to be here and I'm sure, given time, you will be on Broadway." Blaine nods, briefly thanking Carmen Tibideaux for the accolade. "Hold up." Ms. July gets up, dance stick taping the ground as she walks. "Sure, tiny cheeks here can sing. NYADA is the best of the best. We will build each other up to get solos but don't get me wrong we will also destroy each other to get that solo. Make no mistake, singing isn't the only skill that you need to make it in this industry. I wanna see if he can dance." Blaine smirks, finding her insults humorous. "Chicago, opening number. Know it, tight end?" She asks, pointing to a band member by the stereo system. "Spend a lot of time commenting on my ass, like what you see?" She scoffs as the song begins. She takes the lead, dragging him into a complex dance number. He's also been competitive and he's not going to let her bully him out of this. He manages to keep up with her throughout the dance. When the song finishes, Cassandra smiles while panting. "So where you from? Private school I imagine. New Jersey?"

"Ohio. Dalton Academy." He answers back and if she's impressed she doesn't show it. "Guess Dalton can make more than gay men with a future in yogurt commercials. He's got potential." She states, retaking her spot at the table. Carmen takes over, complimenting him again before offering him a spot at NYADA. "We wish for you to use your talent to represent NYADA, and to insure that happens, NYADA is willing to pay for you to continue your studies here. Full ride." Blaine never expected this, he's not even sure he wants to go to this school. He wants to be in New York and he wants to be with Kurt but NYADA? He thanks her for her offer but doesn't accept it right away. "When you make your decision, sign this and mail it in." Carmen and June Dolloway head out, leaving a letter on the table for Blaine. "Playing hard to get? Cute."

"Fiancé thinks so too. You've actually helped him out with tickets to Ohio. You remember Rachel's roommate? Kurt? We're engaged."

Cassandra nods, a smug look on her face. "Should've known. I'm looking for a TA this upcoming year, if you're interested, job's yours." Blaine likes her, how she acts, how she carries herself and how she's not afraid to say what she wants. It's obvious that she wants him and he'd be lying if he doesn't doubt that it'd be fun. "Well Ms. July I will have to get back to you on that offer." His tone is just as seductive and inappropriate as hers. He grabs his letter and heads out, feeling Cassandra's gaze on his ass as he leaves. He jumps when he hears June Dolloway call him. "Blaine is it?"

"Yeah," He shakes her extended hand. "And you're June Dolloway, a socialite who has developed some of the best artists of today." She blushes as she brushes off his blandishment. She explains how she's hosting a gala tonight that's going to packed with rich people who would love to donate to the 'create a star out of Blaine Anderson' foundation. She tells him how tonight could be a test run and if she likes what happens tonight, she'd be willing to take him on as her next project and sponsor him. He thanks her, this day being so much better than he possibly could've imagined. When he gets back to the apartment he heads straight to where his stuff is in Kurt's 'room.' Kurt enters, sitting on the bed cross legged. "Well? How'd it go?"

"Fine. I mean I don't know." He doesn't tell him about the scholarship offer because he's still debating if he even wants to go to college at all. He does however mention the gala to Kurt. "Oh my god! Blaine that's amazing!" Kurt gets up and hugs him. "I'm so proud of you." Blaine smiles, "I hope so. I want you to be." Kurt quickly sneaks a kiss before backing away. The privacy curtains really don't actually mean anything when his roommate is Rachel Berry. "What about your audition? You've never bombed a performance in your life. You're bound to get in." Kurt mentions, beaming at the fact that his fiancé is finally getting the big break he deserves. "What if Sam has the right idea? I mean if I get this sponsorship do I even need to go to some college?" Blaine is still fighting with his nerves and Kurt can tell that he's losing the battle. Kurt smiles sympathetically. "Why are you so nervous about this? Is it NYADA or -" Throughout everything that has happened, Kurt has been nothing but supportive of Blaine and his choices with NYADA but he can't let his fiancé's nerves ruin his chances.

"I'm not nervous or scared!" Blaine snaps and Kurt holds his hands up in surrender and gets up off the bed. He's tried the supportive approach and it's not working but he refuses to let Blaine take this out on him. "Fine. Don't go to college and see where this rich people gala sponsorship gets you. I don't care anymore!" Kurt finally yells back at Blaine and walks out. Both Sam and Rachel stare at him until he snaps at them too. Sam excuses himself to go talk to Blaine about this as Rachel tries to sooth Kurt.

"Alright, what's up?"

Blaine just shakes his head as he straightens out his bowtie in the mirror. "Nothing."

"Fine, I'll tell you what's up because I'm your best friend and it's my job to tell you when you're being an ass." Blaine just rolls his eyes as he pulls on his suit jacket. "Blaine, you're being an ass." Blaine offers a sarcastic 'thank you' as he grabs his wallet and keys and heads out. Sam follows him out into the hallway and down the stairs as their fight continues. "Why are you suddenly doing this?"

Blaine halts on the stairs, turning around to look at Sam who's four stairs up. "Doing what? Sam, because you're my best friend, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Screw off." Sam sarcastically laughs as Blaine continues down the stairs. "What the hell is your problem?!" Sam yells, staying planted on the stair that he's on. He hears Blaine yell back that he is. "You're full of shit!" Sam yells, getting a brusque 'yep' from Blaine.

Kurt finally walks into the hallway, interrupting the fight between the two high school seniors. "Blaine wait!" Blaine rolls his eyes, stopping and turning around. "Sam leave." Kurt motions back towards the apartment and Sam slinks back inside, closing the door after him, leaving the two alone with some privacy. "Blaine-"

"I'm sorry." Blaine cuts in. He knows that he's strong willed and thick headed. Once he's set his mind on something, nothing can change that and he rarely admits that he's wrong. "Kurt I'm sorry. You're right, I'm nervous. No I'm not nervous, I'm fucking terrified. I'm scared that I'm going to just move into some big city and fall, flat on my face and I won't be able to make it anywhere. I know that it's my ego and nerves but still, I shouldn't take it out on you." Blaine finally admits, coming back up the stairs to meet Kurt outside of the apartment. "I know that it's new and it can be scary. It's a big city with big buildings and everywhere you go there's always so many people who always seem like they've just come from a secret meeting of 'how to make it in the big city' but that doesn't matter. I don't care if you fall down a few times because I'm going to be there to pick you up or fall down with you." Kurt hugs Blaine, and Blaine hugs him back, resting his chin on Kurt's shoulder. "Now come on, cheer up we have a party to crash." Blaine sniffles and laughs slightly. "I love you." Kurt nods, a smug look on his face. "I know." They end up inviting Sam and Rachel to the gala, Blaine killing it and getting an offer from June Dolloway at the end. She's offered to sponsor him, get his name out there like an agent but for free. "Next stop LA!" Sam cheers as the group heads home after the gala.


	55. Chapter 55

The next morning Ryder's up and texting before their alarm even goes off. He knows that he's being catfished but he knows that whoever it is, they've already formed a relationship. Jake groans and slaps the alarm as it scares him out of his deep sleep. "How long have you been up?" He asks as he sits up and grabs his phone off the charger. It's currently eight in the morning and Ryder's been up for hours. "Since five. Katie's finally answering me. She's here in LA." Jake just rolls his eyes as he gets up and grabs clothes. "You are such an idiot. Ryder, you are being catfished. There is no Katie. You are probably telling all of your deepest secrets to a pedophile." Jake heads to the bathroom, closing the door but he can still hear Ryder argue back. "It's not some pedophile. It's someone in Glee and we have a relationship."

"A predatory one maybe. I do not want to hear about it when it turns out to be Blaine or Sam." Jake yells back before getting in the shower. Ryder just scoffs, "It's not Blaine." He says but it's more to convince himself.


	56. Chapter 56

By eleven the kids start meeting in the lobby. Artie, Kitty and Marley are sitting around a table in the lobby when Jake and Ryder walk up. Marley's writing in her journal and Kitty's playing on her phone. "Hey, hey Kitty who are you texting?" Ryder asks, leaning over and trying to grab her phone. She leans away from him, pulling her phone to her chest. "I'm playing four pics one word stalker. Do I need a restraining order?" Kitty scoffs, and Jake holds back a laugh. "Twenty bucks says it's Blaine." Jake states, watching people scuttle around the busy lobby. "It's a genius senior prank and I'm totally going to use it my senior year." Jake jokes, Marley looking up, having no clue what they're talking about.

"What's Blaine?"

"Ryder's fake internet girlfriend." Jake responds as Ryder punches him. "Dude that's the Dalton lead. Let's grab him, maybe tie his feet together and drop him off the Santa Monica Pier? Or we could hide him in a closet?" Jake suggests as he points out Sebastian grabbing a latte while talking on the phone with someone. "Bad idea. That kid hospitalized Blaine last year." Artie cuts in as Jake and Ryder start to make their move. "Wait what?" Marley asks,

"Yeah how?" Even Kitty, who's been rolling her eyes and judging their conversations, seems interested. No one has ever mentioned this before. Artie doesn't get a chance to explain because Mr. Shue walks up with the others. "Alright guys, let's hit it, we've got the stage."

The kids grumble and groan, not wanting to get up and leave their comfy chairs in the lobby. "We can't even like do anything until Blaine and Sam get here." Ryder points out as they walk to the site. "We're still going to use this time to do one last run through. Blaine and Sam know the medley and we can always run through it. It's not going to hurt to be rehearsed." Ryder smirks as he notices Kitty roll her eyes behind Mr. Shue.


	57. Chapter 57

Blaine's plane lands around noon but it wasn't Sam who flew out with him. Rachel mentioned that she and Kurt were planning on flying out later on Monday so Sam and Rachel suggested that Kurt fly out with Blaine. "You ok? You seem out of it." Kurt says, squeezing his fiané's hand. "Everything is just fine." Blaine mutters, sneaking a kiss as they venture through LAX together. "I'm scared to tell my dad. Is that bad?" Blaine just squeezes Kurt closer to him. "Your dad has been nothing but supportive, don't worry." Blaine tries to convince Kurt not to worry but deep down he's stressed out about it too. "Yeah well I'm like one hundred percent sure that he doesn't like you anymore. Sorry," Kurt jokingly apologizes. When he found out about Blaine cheating he spent a lot of time ranting to his dad. Blaine just laughs it off, "As long as you still like me I'll live." Kurt spins the ring on Blaine's finger. "And I do love you."

Blaine and Kurt catch a taxi to their hotel, checking in and hoping to avoid running into anyone. The fourteenth floor is booked out for the New Directions and the Warblers so they consider themselves pretty lucky when they almost make it to their room before Ryder calls Blaine. "Blaine, question! Real quick, well more like two questions. One," He notices Kurt disappear into a room and he notices the ring on Kurt's finger and sure enough the matching one is on Blaine's finger. "Did you two get hitched?" Ryder was going to ask about the catfish, see Blaine's reaction just because he wants to prove Jake wrong and then he also was planning on asking about the hospital story that Artie mentioned earlier but he gets sidetracked easily. "Keep your voice down. No we're not married, yes we are engaged but we are keeping it quiet for now so shut your face or I swear to god I will hurt you in ways you didn't know was possible." Blaine whisper yells as he threatens Ryder before grabbing him by the shoulders, spinning him around and shoving him back in the direction he came from. Blaine meets Kurt in their room, closing the door behind him and plopping down on the queen bed closest to the windows. "Ryder knows." He says, staring up at the ceiling. Kurt gets up from the other bed and sits down by Blaine's head. "It'll be okay, I'll talk to my dad. I'm sure he won't hurt you or anything." Blaine just looks up in Kurt's direction and reaches for his fiancé's hand.


	58. Chapter 58

Ryder flops on his bed, reaching for his phone that's plugged in by the alarm clock. Jake looks up from his phone, shoots Ryder a judgemental glare and then goes back to his phone. "You good?" Jake's tone is clearly capricious and his question is clearly rhetorical. Ryder's already texting 'Katie' so he's tuning out everything Jake is saying.

' **GEUUSS WAHT1'** His text is in all caps and spelt wrong but for once it's not because of his dyslexia, it's because he's way too rushed and excited to share some major gossip.

' **U found a store that sells those adorable tropical shirt sleeves u wear way too much?'** Ryder laughs out loud at 'Katie's' flirtation response.

' **No, not yet… although I'm still hopeful but one of our own just got hitched.'** He's not saying who yet because this is a perfect test to see if Jake was right about his catfish.

' **Well we need to celebrate. Party ten I'll set it up.'** Ryder can tell that Blaine isn't his catfish or 'Katie' wouldn't have suggested a party. ' **Wait who's hitched?'** Katie asks, planning an epic party. ' **Technically it's just an engagement but still and Blaine. I can't believe he literally breaks up with his boyfriend and then like a week later he's engaged.'**

' **Tonight, I've already reserved the gala room down by the lobby.'** 'Katie' has planned this all out already, only in LA. ' **And then we can finally meet tonight, in person.'** Ryder doesn't get a response and suddenly 'Katie' goes silent, the conversation clearly over. Ryder knows how pissed Blaine will be but he does not get to get engaged and get away without telling anyone. "Party tonight, tell your friends." Ryder chucks a pillow over at Jake, getting his attention. "Who's telling Shue?"

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him right?" Jake just shakes his head but gets up to change into something a little more partyish.


	59. Chapter 59

Blaine groans as he gently pushes Kurt down on the bed, hovering over him. Both are stripped down to boxers, Blaine trying to convince himself that he's safe with Kurt. Thankfully a knock on the door interrupts their activities. Kurt angrily sighs, "Tell me that's not Tina!" Blaine reaches for his bright red jeans that have been thrown to the floor. It's about half past ten at night so he's wondering who on earth is pestering them now. "What?" Blaine complains as he reaches the door and pulls it open. "Marley, hey uh-" He cuts off, looking her up and down. She's wearing a dress that's more of Santana's style than hers and it's obvious that Kitty did her make-up. "There's a private party downstairs, and it's kind of like you have to come." She says, not explaining why on earth there's a party or why it's crucial that he shows. "And why is there a party at like eleven at night?" He's tired from flying and extremely irritated from being interrupted by Marley. "I'll see you downstairs." He tells her before closing the door. He climbs back on top of Kurt, really wanting to spend his night with his fiancé instead at some party. "We" Kurt tries to get a word in in between Blaine's kisses. "Should." He moans Blaine's name as Blaine's mouth travels down his neck. "We should go." Kurt moans but grabs onto Blaine's arms, holding him on in place on top of Kurt. Kurt would love to blow off the party but as soon as he moves his hands down to Blaine's ass Blaine backs away. "You're right, we should go." Blaine's already grabbing his shirt, redressing and fixing his hair. Kurt groans but gets up too. "You're wasting a perfectly good night of freedom." He suggests, trying to get Blaine back on the bed. "You suggested that we go to this party." Blaine rebuttals, grabbing his fiancé's hand.

"Come on, if it sucks, we can bail out and I will make this one of the best nights of your life." Blaine promises as they head out into the hallway together. Before they reach the elevators Blaine whispers seductively into Kurt's ear, "I'm kinda hoping this party sucks because I'm looking forward to hearing you scream my name all night."


	60. Chapter 60

They can hear the music pounding before they even hit the lobby. "Place your bets now, how pissed is Shue going to be when he finds out." Blaine jokes as they walk down a rather quiet hallway to the room where the party is. Blaine pushes the door open, the first thing he sees in a giant 'Congratulations!' sign hanging up on the opposite wall. "Ryder." Blaine mutters and behind him he hears Kurt, "I think I might actually hate him more than Sebastian. I'm going to kill him." In Blaine's mind all he can hear is Burt yelling at him. Blaine jumps when Sam claps him on the back. "Did I not call it?! Well I mean I wasn't expecting the engagement part but dude, Congrats!" Blaine shoves Sam off of him, "Who did this? Who am I going to have to hurt?" Sam chuckles, "Dude enjoy it. You should be celebrating, getting engaged is a big ass deal and you're like trying to hide it." Sam's proud of his best friend, but Blaine's too pissed to celebrate right now. "Shut it down." Blaine demands before leaving. Kurt also looks upset, shaking his head at Sam before leaving.


	61. Chapter 61

Not long after Blaine and Kurt left, Mr. Shue got wind of what they were doing and now they're all on room arrest. ' **I waited for u. I'm done waiting. I need to know who u r. No more lies.'** Ryder finally gets upset with 'Katie' he wants a relationship with her but he wants to know who 'her' is. ' **Are u ashamed of me?'** Ryder asks, he's starting to take it personally that she won't come forward. ' **No, I'm ashamed of me. Of what u will think of me. I love u and as soon as u know me, u won't.'** Ryder reads her message and then rereads it. ' **That's rediculous. I'm not going to judge u.. Ur perfect.'**

"I can hear you cheesy smiling from here." Jake insults as he scrolls through his twitter feed. He's bored out of his mind. He was planning on doing something, maybe going for a walk or asking Marley to go down to the beach with him or something. He's so bored and he's not allowed to leave the floor. "At least I'm texting friends. What are you doing? Insulting people on twitter?"

Jake just sighs as he rolls to face Ryder, "Dude, for the last time, this catfish is not your friend. It's a prank, and you're an idiot." Before Ryder can even fight back someone knocks on their door. It's almost three in the morning and neither one wants to get up. Ryder looks at Jake, "You're closer." Jake rolls his eyes as he gets up and pulls the door open, seeing Blaine standing there. "Are you going to beat up Ryder because I am willing to get out of your way." Jake hears Ryder mutter 'thanks' sarcastically. "No, we're going to break onto the stage. Come on get up let's go."


	62. Chapter 62

By three thirty the whole club is on the dark stage. Artie has two flashlights taped to his wheelchair, lighting their path as the others question Blaine of what their doing on stage. "Isn't this like illegal?" Artie asks, slightly creeped out. "And when did you become interesting?" Kitty insults, slightly amazed that Blaine came up with this idea. "Oh please sneaking onto the stage the night before a competition was tradition for the Warblers, along with many others that I can't say but-"

Kitty makes a snarky comment about the Warblers as Blaine flips the lights on. "I'm sorry but I must've missed when we decided to start adopting Warbler traditions?" Artie chimes in with 'preach' as he sets the brakes on his wheelchair. Blaine ignores Kitty's insults, moving on to the real reason of why he brought them here. "We're not doing the medley for Nationals. We're going to do more than some hits from decades past." Blaine grabs his bag and hands out three separate songs. The club understands what he means as soon as they read over the songs that he just handed them.


	63. Chapter 63

"Alright guys, this is the time that we have practiced for. I know that we've been through a lot, we're that show choir but we're also defending champs and we are going to go out there and win this again. We have worked our asses off to get here-"

"And not all of us made it." Sam mutters, he's been really cool about losing Finn but as Nationals finally comes he can't do it. Mr. Shue pats him on the back, "You're right, not all of us made it but Finn is still with us. He's going to be on that stage with you guys urging you all forward because you are here because of him."

Sam nods and sniffles, this has got to be Mr. Shue's most depressing speech ever. Burt and Carole are out in the crowd with Mercedes and Rachel. Kurt is on the sidelines with Mr. Shue because he couldn't bear to sit in the crowd with Burt and Carole when they begin singing Finn's favorite songs. Blaine told him about their plan this morning and how when they win they're going to call Carole up to accept the trophy for Finn. "Alright guys, go out there and break a leg."

"For Finn." Sam says before they put their hands in. Mr. Shue almost stops the music when the beginning of 'More Than A Feeling' starts but Kurt stops him. Mr. Shue is in awe at what they've decided to do. When they finish the lights dim and the curtain drops. In the crowd Carole whispers to Burt. "Those were Finn's favorites. They did all of his favorites."


	64. Chapter 64

"And now it's the time to finally name a winner, starting off in third place, from Indiana, Vocal Adrenaline!" The other groups clap as the head from Vocal Adrenaline walks forward to accept the award. Blaine looks across the stage and sees his old friends, his brothers standing at attention but he can tell the nervous excitement that's buzzing underneath the surface. Sebastian catches his glance and smirks, a silent challenge before the final truth is announced, and only one team will walk away with the win. "And finally, the winner of this year's Show Choir National Championship goes to, from Ohio," Both Blaine and Sebastian's heads snap up from the stage they were staring at. "Located in Westerville, The Dalton Academy Warblers!" The crowd cheers, Sebastian claims the trophy, Throat Explosion wins second place and the New Directions don't even place. They hang their heads as the confetti flies and the other choirs celebrate. They failed, they failed Finn.


	65. Chapter 65

The walk back to the hotel is silent, Marley leaning on Jake and Ryder texting 'Katie.' Blaine is near the back, walking hand in hand with Kurt, not caring that Burt and Carole are behind them. "We should talk to your dad."

"I will." Kurt mutters his response and lays his head on Blaine's shoulder. "You're mad." Kurt states, not posing a question, he knows his fiancé is pissed.

"It's my fault. I screwed over the entire frickin team." It was his idea, to change the set list and do these songs last minute. He should've kept his mouth shut and let them do their medley that they had practiced. "We didn't even place."

"This is not your fault Blaine. You helped a lot of people, I'm pretty sure I saw Sam crying. I know that you really helped Carole heal, and Rachel." Blaine just hums a response, still pissed. "And me. What you guys did may not have won you first place but you helped more than you know."

"It still feels like a failure, my failure."

"So what? You're allowed about three more minutes of your self pity party before I beat you. You may have lost this one but hey you still walked away with a win." Kurt jokes, squeezing Blaine's hand. "Yes I did. I won you. I am the luckiest man in the world." Kurt shrugs and nods, "yeah, you are."

A few lengths ahead of them Jake tries to drum up a conversation with Marley. "So uh that sucks." He blantly states, staring down at the sidewalk. Marley's more sad about losing than angry. It's still one of the best experiences in her life. "I'm just really bummed out. I mean we came all the way out here to lose." She says as she pushes the hair out of her face. "Well I happen to know that there's a really cool wax museum by the hotel and I know someone who loves wax museums." He suggests, elbowing her slightly. "Uh I don't know. We leave early tomorrow and Mr. Shue still seems pretty pissed about the party last night."

Their conversation is cut off as they reach the hotel lobby and Mr. Shue wants to make one last speech before dismissing them. "I know that you guys are disappointed-"

"I think pissed is the more appropriate word." Blaine mutters, Kurt rubbing circles on the back of his hand.

"But I want you all to know that I am so proud of you guys. Yeah, we lost and that sucks but this wasn't just about winning and you guys made it so much more than that." Mr. Shue goes to dismiss them but Ryder cuts in. "I'm sorry Mr. Shue but I uh, I need to know who this catfish is. It's tearing me apart and I know it's one of you guys so who is it?" Ryder starts out calm but when no one moves he starts yelling and finally kicks the wooden coffee table. "Come on pull out your phones. I need to know who it is."

"I don't think it's anyone in-" Tina starts, only to get cut off and yelled at. "I know it's someone in here. I know that you're in glee because I called during the shooting and a phone rang in the choir room so who is it?" Ryder continues to shout at them, Sugar retracting her feet from the table as it moves from being kicked again. "Dude calm down." Sam says as Ryder yells again.

"Someone just come forward, who is it?" Artie says as Ryder throws a fit. "I'M CATFISH!"

Everyone whips their heads to look at the catfish culprit. Marley's standing, staring at Ryder who has a confused look on his face. "What no you're not. I asked you, you told me you weren't."  
"Well I lied. I'm sorry it was just supposed to be a-" Ryder cuts her off and starts yelling. Jake stands, planting himself between his best friend and Marley. "Ok dude let's just calm down. Ok? It was a harmless prank."

The look on Ryder's face makes the others feel bad for him. He looks so betrayed, he feels betrayed. Marley promised him earlier that she would never do that to him and here his best friend is defending her. "Why are you defending her?" Ryder spats at Jake before turning and walking off. Marley sees everyone looking at her and she quickly flees too.


End file.
